


Welcome to SHINee World!

by lunaloop



Category: SHINee
Genre: Angst, Cute, Depression, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Insomnia, My First Work in This Fandom, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Seungri appears, Tags Are Hard, basically dark topics wrapped in a million layers of fluff, coffee shop AU, everyone finds kibum beautiful, jinki is the cashier, jjong tries his best, kibum also hides his problems, minho is sassy asf, no labels, other idol's cameos, shinee own a coffee shop, so does leo, so is kibum, taemin doesnt work yet, this is a shinee ot5 love fest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2019-07-08 17:23:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 27,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15934961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunaloop/pseuds/lunaloop
Summary: They are five boys and they don't have much but each other, a tiny apartment and the ratty coffee shop on the floor below - but they decide to make it work.This is the story of SHINee (as Taemin called them one day).





	1. Welcome to SHINee World

**Author's Note:**

> welcome, friend! (woah that sounds very epic and weird pls bear with me)
> 
> honestly, thx for even finding this SHINEE COFFEE SHOP AU in the first place. it's very special to me, since i'm experimenting and trying to find a comfortable writing style for myself throughout the course of this! it doesn't exactly have a plot but i promise the little stories and drabbles i wrote down are really cute! there will be lots of FLUFF and writing this is honestly like therapy for me. i've been feeling a lot better since i started writing this.
> 
> there will be NO major character death, i will tell you that right here. i can't promise there won't be any references to depression and other dark topics, but i'll try to put trigger warnings every time and this story is very positive in general. it certainly won't end in angst, i promise you that!
> 
> another thing i need to mention here are REQUESTS. since this is mostly a collection of short stories that are connected by the setting and sometimes the topic, i wanted to keep it interactive. if there's anything you want me to write, about specific members or all of them, COMMENT IT DOWN BELOW! if it fits the overall storyline, i'll see what i can do! i'd love to hear and use other ppl's input.
> 
> finally, i hope you'll give this story a read. it would mean a whole lot to me, since i'm proud of it and it's my first work for shinee. now, without further ado, pls enjoy!

The sun had been shining all week, but just that day, clouds decided to cover the sky and block the sunbeams from hitting the earth. An icy breeze was sweeping through the streets of the city, which were vacant save for a few pedestrians hurrying along with their umbrellas open in fear of rain.

As the day progressed, the sky grew even darker and soon heavy rain was really pouring down onto the earth, driving even the stray cats to hide in empty basements and behind trashcans blocking small alleyways.

In a corner of Seoul, millions of raindrops were running down the window pane belonging to an apartment owned by five teenage boys. Four of them were currently lined up in the main room, mindlessly staring through the window at the grey veil of rain coming down from the sky. It was truly not the best weather those boys could have asked for, but none of them let their thoughts dwell on the storm outside for too long.

Instead, their minds all wandered to a place one floor below them, which happened to be a small and cozy yet nicely furnished and decorated coffee shop. Someone really seemed to have put a lot of work into choosing the chairs and tables as well as writing the little price tags and signs that had been put all over the shop. Even the sign above the door, which said ‘SHINee world’ had a homely and welcoming feeling to it, no matter how dirty and poorly-kept the front of the building looked.

As he thought of the coffee shop downstairs, one of the boys unconsciously started mumbling a greeting he had been rehearsing for days.

“We are shining SHINee, welcome to our SHINee world where we brew your coffee with the greatest love and care!”

Admittedly, it sounded very cheesy and doubt flared up in the boy’s eyes as he reconsidered. However, he was instantly jabbed in the ribs by the sharp elbow of his neighbor. The person standing next to him was shorter and a lot skinnier, while his boyish face looked like he was about ten years younger than the first boy.

In reality, Taemin, which was the second one’s name, was fifteen, which made him only five years younger than his companion. His wit usually made up for his age, though, as he proved by telling the older man, “Jinki-hyung, you’re being creepy again!”

Jinki, who was a very soft person and usually kept quiet when some of his more outgoing friends joked about him, jumped but didn’t say anything. Still, his eyes nervously wandered around the room, never finding a satisfying point for fixation. Next to him, another boy, a taller one this time, was tapping his feet on the floor in a fast rhythm, which in turn increased the anxiety of the last person in the room, who happened to be the shortest of them all.

“Could you all be quiet for a moment,” the latter hissed at Jinki and Taemin before turning to the tall boy. “Especially you, Minho.”

Minho scoffed at him but only when the short man had already averted his eyes, not wanting to risk attracting his wrath – he had been acquainted with the other long enough to know it was never good to irritate him when he was nervous.

After the man’s complaint, the room grew eerily silent and the splattering of water remained the only sound audible to the boys – of course, it was primarily caused by the rain outside but also by the sink in the bathroom next door.

Despite the monotonous background noise, the four boys couldn’t keep their mouths shut long enough and soon, Taemin’s soft voice pierced through the silence.

“What is Key-hyung doing in there so long?”

Before anyone could answer him, though, the door opened and said fifth boy stepped out, hands on his hips in a gesture of confidence. The last boy looked absolutely gorgeous, even in comparison to his undoubtedly handsome companions. His lips wore a healthy reddish color while his cheeks had a slight glow to them that was even visible under the poor lighting of their apartment.

Key, as Taemin had called him, stepped forward and observed the four others for a second before shaking his head.

“You all look like scared chickens,” he announced in a voice stronger than you would have expected someone of such a  skinny built to have. “Didn’t I finish your makeup just an hour ago, Minho? Why is your lip bleeding? Did you bite it again? That’s unattractive, how many times do I need to tell you that?”

He swiftly approached Minho and, after covering his finger with an extract he had gotten from a small tube inside his back pocket, smeared red all over the boy’s lips. The other rolled his eyes and smirked when he realized that even the semi-tall Kibum had problems reaching up to him without standing on the tip of his toes.

Meanwhile Jinki had started mumbling again, making the shortest man at the end of the line sigh out loud.

“Goddammit, I’m gonna explode!”

Kibum turned to him, one hand still placed on his hip sassily.

“C’mon guys, what’s with this weird mood? Shouldn’t you all be a bit more positive about this whole thing? We’ve worked so hard for this after all.”

“I’m so nervous,” Jinki admitted quietly, breaking under Kibum’s strong gaze in just a few seconds. “What if I mess up while saying the greeting? Or give a customer the wrong change? No one is going to buy anything from us after all!”

“Bullshit!” Minho spat as Taemin and Kibum scoffed at the same time. “Why wouldn’t they? Sure, it may take a while, but they will soon notice we’re hardworking and honest men who are only trying to establish a business. Lots of people succeed while being much less genuine. Plus, we’re a team after all, right? We're in this together.”

And a team, they were.

The little group of theirs had formed a few years back, when Jinki’s uncle had still been running the coffee shop and all of them had been struggling with life more or less.

It all started with Kibum and Jonghyun. While the former had been raised by his grandmother, who almost worked herself to death to give her grandson the opportunity of going to a prestigious school in the city and getting a good education, Jonghyun’s family struggled with insoluble financial problems.

His mother could not provide for her two children, herself and the family's dog on her own, and therefore life forced Jonghyun to take on a fulltime job at a fairly young age. The sensitive boy was never happy with how things had turned out, but he knew what had to be done, and for his family, he would even take jobs in the darkest, most dangerous areas of the city.

That was where he met Kibum, too – a student with clothes that were always neatly ironed and fit his body like a second skin, yet a boy who couldn’t afford to pay the rent for a decent apartment that didn’t have a leaking roof. No matter how hard Kibum tried, he couldn’t hide his origin or his hopeless situation at school and it soon caused him quite a few problems with the other students.

For him, it was the biggest luck and most fortunate coincidence that he met Jonghyun, who was only older by two years yet who still had so much more life experience. Jonghyun also told Kibum how to survive his daily life at their meet-ups at lunchtime, when they would sit together on the front steps of random buildings and watch other citizens walk by with delicious-smelling foods and drinks in hand.

They complained together, made fun of the crowd together, and then they met Jinki – together. The older boy was working at the small coffee shop his uncle and only living relative owned.

The business wasn’t running well, though, and as the uncle got older it became harder for him to maintain the shop. It was no secret that Jinki’s economic worries were even worse than Kibum’s, and the two younger boys did their best to help him out at times, yet in the end it was to no avail. Jinki and his uncle had to close down the shop and the former, who had not even been of age then, had to take on another job.

No one could really recall how Minho had joined their little group. One day, he was there eating lunch with them and sharing the two apples he had brought, which in turn made Kibum very emotional – the last time he had actually had apples was when he had still been with his grandmother. Now, he lived off ramen that was sold in plastic cups and the leftovers from the coffee shop, if he was lucky enough.

Minho was Kibum’s age, a few months younger, yet he seemed absolutely determined to become independent as soon as possible. As soon as he turned sixteen, he would leave school, he announced at lunch one day and no one, not even Jonghyun, dared to ask what he was planning to do then, since it was obvious Minho’s parents did not agree with his aims.

The last person to join was the youngest member of the group, Taemin. One day Kibum brought him over and the other three boys were instantly charmed by the new boy’s shy smiles and his polite words. According to Kibum, Taemin was a passionate dancer and his words were proven right soon, when Taemin showed Jonghyun what he learned at the dance classes he attended after school.

While they were definitely better off after having found each other, their economic worries didn’t disappear over time. Instead, they simply grew and made living hard for them. Kibum could hardly afford to stay in the city anymore, so he moved into Jonghyun’s flat, which wasn’t even big enough for one person to comfortably live in. Additionally, it was located in one of the worst areas there were in the city and after Kibum had heard a woman’s horrifying and pained screams one night, he refused to go back there.

Meanwhile, Taemin, who did not live with his family either, was told by the authorities to look for another place to stay, another person to take him in. The despair the boy was in was too great for him to bear, but no one seemed to know a solution for his problems, not even the ever-creative Minho.

As if to end the chain of calamities with a climax, Jinki’s uncle died. He had been sick for a long time and one day, when his nephew turned to wake him after opening the windows to let fresh air into the flat, he wouldn’t open his eyes. However, Jinki did not allow himself to grieve. He now was the owner of a tiny, dusty flat and a closed down coffee shop that was pretty much worthless.

But even though it took almost all of Jinki’s strength to earn enough money to pay the electricity and water bills for himself, he didn’t hesitate a second before asking the rest of the group to move in with him. Both Taemin and Kibum joined him the same night his uncle was buried.

They all attended the small funeral, but Kibum only cried later that night, failing to hold back tears of gratitude and shame over having to live off a friend. It was not like him to take advantage of other people’s kindness, but Jonghyun sternly told him that he had no choice but to do exactly that if he wanted to stay in school. He didn't give Kibum a choice.

The apartment Jinki now owned was barely big enough for two, let alone three persons, but Minho and Jonghyun still moved in as soon as they could. Minho was just grateful to get away from his nagging family while Jonghyun knew very well that he could use the little money he earned in better ways than paying for his crappy flat and its leaking roof.

It was a tight fit with five persons living inside one tiny apartment, although the boys were determined to make it work somehow. The floor, hardly constructed to carry more than three big pieces of furniture, creaked under the additional weight of another bed and the sight of the flat reminded them of a shelf in an office that was crammed tightly with files, forms and papers of any kind, carelessly thrown together in a rush.

Since the flat couldn’t fit more than two beds and a couch, Jonghyun had to share a bed with Kibum. Minho and Taemin gladly followed their example and Jinki took the sofa even though his feet would hang over the edge if he didn’t curl up tightly every night.

In the middle of the room stood the table they ate at while their clothes were all stuffed together in the old wardrobe Jinki’s uncle had used before. The doors creaked loudly every time someone would open them and Kibum absolutely hated it. However, at the end of the day, all five boys were glad they at least had a roof to sleep under and enough food to fill their stomachs up decently.

The idea of bringing the coffee shop back to life was Kibum’s. A few weeks after moving in with Jinki, on a Sunday morning more specifically, Jonghyun was unkindly awoken when long-fingered hands started hitting his side repeatedly, refusing to stop until he opened his eyes.

“What on earth-“ Jonghyun mumbled as he sleepily sat up.

 He was immediately met with the face of a very awake and very adventurous-looking Kibum.

“Help me wake the others, hyung!” the younger commanded in a tone which made it clear that he would not tolerate any excuses. Meanwhile, he kept poking Jonghyun’s cheek to make him more awake. “I have an idea to share.”

Even though he had to get up at five on schooldays and only returned late in the evening, their middle-child, as Jinki liked to call him, and resident mum of their little family was an early riser. The others where quite amazed by him,  especially since Taemin was the exact opposite.

Kibum and the maknae werethe in the same situation, but if their youngest wasn’t woken up to eat, he would gladly sleep  through the entire weekend with Minho by his side.

That was also the reason he was wearing a scowl on his pretty face when everyone gathered on Jinki’s couch a few minutes later, expectantly facing Kibum, who was sitting on the table opposite him, his legs dangling wildly. He seemed very excited which was a little strange, given how exhausted he had been from his exams lately. But now the tired and snappy Kibum had been replaced by a renewed one, who soon proposed his idea with glistening eyes.

“Let’s re-open the coffee shop!”

“What do you mean by that?” Jinki clumsily slurred, still in a sleepy daze.

Beside him, Jonghyun frowned.

“Do you think that’s a good idea? You know how badly the business went last time…”

“Of course I do,” Kibum rolled his eyes - he couldn’t believe Jonghyun had the audacity to question his memory. “Of course, but we can make it new. I mean, Jinki-hyung owns the place anyway and I doubt we could make a lot of money selling it in its current condition. But-“

He raised his hand at Minho, who looked like he was about to interrupt him.

“Hear me out. We can make all of it new. Cleaning up will take a few weeks, but I’m positive we can do it. I’ll soon be done with my exams for the summer so I can be home earlier and Taeminie too! I’m sure we can clean the shop if Ming helps a bit.”

At that, both Minho and Taemin pouted a bit. Unlike Kibum, they didn’t like cleaning at all and even though they were by no means picky, the thought of cleaning out the dirty coffee shop made shivers of disgust run down their spines.

Jinki seemed to approve of the idea, though, as he nodded at Kibum.

“Please go on.”

“Well, after cleaning and mending some stuff, it would be stupid of us to sell the shop after all the hard work. Instead we can make it all new and better, invent a new concept and such! Jonghyun-hyung is really creative and I think we can all be, too – after all, we can benefit from this. If we clean up the shop and re-open it, people will like it and buy from us.”

“But Bummie, did you think of the bills? It will cost a lot to re-open and pay for water and electricity for the shop. I don’t think we’ll be able to afford it.”

Jonghyun’s frown had deepened during Kibum’s explanation and even though the younger boy was so enthusiastic, he still seemed to be skeptical.

“Jinki-hyung barely earns enough to feed us all right now and from my monthly wage, I’ve only been able to put aside a little. We could keep it up for maybe half a year, but what about after that?”

“Good thing I thought about that too!”

Kibum’s smile turned triumphant as he leaned forward, ready to present his entire plan to the others.

“Of course we need to make sure we’ll get something out of this. And it’s a risk of course, but a lot of chances can come from it. Think about it for a second, Jjong-hyung. I know how much you hate your job and Jinki-hyung really can’t keep going like this or he’ll work himself to death. The coffee shop, however, would be something completely different for the both of you. I’m not saying it’ll be easy, but it could become easier.

“Not to forget, Taemin-ah and I can help more, too. I’ll just take less courses next year, and Minho wants to drop out anyway. We will easily manage to coffee shop as five. Jinki-hyung has his coming of age day this year, so he can probably manage everything with the authorities. Of course, we need to think about how to price everything to get something out of it and we’ll need to work hard on promoting the shop, too, but I’m sure we can manage that.

“We didn’t call ourselves SHINee for nothing, right? We can shine with this!”

At Kibum’s reference to a funny situation a few weeks ago, when Taemin had misunderstood the elder and called them  ‘SHINee family’, no one could hold in their chuckles. After that, the atmosphere was a lot less tense, even though Jonghyun didn’t seem to be fully convinced yet.

He ended up agreeing to the plan - not because he actually believed it could work, but because there had been so much hope in Kibum’s eyes when he had announced his idea. In the past two years, the two of them  had faced a lot of their hardships together and Jonghyun knew how important it was for Kibum to steadily improve his own situation by changing his circumstances for the better – that morning, he couldn’t find it in himself to take that away from the younger.

Meanwhile, Jinki found himself getting excited by his idea and it certain. Kibum had really managed to convince him everything could work out if they tried hard enough. And Jinki was definitely willing to make sacrifices.

It had been his goal to give Kibum the opportunity of studying at a university for a while now. He knew it would be a struggle to provide for him, but anything else would be a waste of potential and Jinki had the feeling he owed it to Kibum. The younger had helped him out with his advice and his hard work a lot of times in the past, and he wanted to make it up to him somehow.

With his goal in mind, Jinki thought the coffee shop could provide a huge chance for them.

In the end, they all agreed to at least try cleaning the coffee shop – after doing that they could still decide if they wanted to turn it into a business again or not. The next weeks the boys spent with masks covering their mouths and noses and brooms clasped tightly in their hands. Instead of going to school like he should have, Minho cleaned out their three ancient fridges as well as the cupboards in the storage room.

Kibum’s idea, which had once seemed all too absurd, soon turned into a solid plan, as the five boys all realized there was an actual chance they could open the coffee shop again.

After the first phase of their plan was completed, it was surprisingly Jonghyun, the most skeptical of them all, sat down one evening and mapped out their next steps. He carefully took all of his doubts and hopes into consideration and Jinki helped him calculate how much money they had to invest if they wanted to succeed in any way.

The following year was one filled with hard work, yet if someone was to walk by the coffee shop every day, they would surely notice the little changes that were made day after day. First, the whole shop was cleaned and the old furniture taken out. On a very lucky day, Jinki found someone to buy the old stuff and with the money he got in return, Jonghyun went to see one of his friends who sold furniture of all kinds.

It soon became apparent that the second oldest member was now responsible for the decorations and the interior design of the shop. After he had put up the new curtains he had bought, not even Kibum, who was very picky when it came to anything visual, dared to complain.

While Jonghyun worked hard to make the shop look welcoming to customers, Jinki went through his uncle’s old files from when the coffee shop was still running. He found out what he needed to do in order to start a business and got in touch with the authorities.

Since he didn’t seem like the most reliable person given his living conditions and other circumstances, it took Jinki almost a year to succeed, but after many discussions and pleads he finally received the permission to open the coffee shop.

The day he brought it home, the eldest treated his four other flatmates to dinner, even though the money he received from his work was barely enough to feed them all week. In order to buy them some nice meat, Jinki had to skip getting lunch thrice the next week, but the smile on Jonghyun’s face and the way Minho and Taemin practically inhaled their plates with their food made up for his sacrifice.

Now that they had their permission to open the shop, it was only a matter of time until they could actually do so. Kibum and Jonghyun picked out the coffee brands they were going to sell and as the younger had been put in charge of the kitchen along with Minho, he also researched recipes for cake he wanted to bake.

They were lucky both Jonghyun and Kibum had helped Jinki’s uncle out at the coffee shop when he was still alive and therefore had some kind of experience in the work. In the following weeks, Kibum proceeded to teach Minho all the cakes he had learned from his grandmother and afterwards, they practiced their coffee-making together.

Since Taemin was still too young to officially work at the shop, they didn’t assign him a specific task, yet the youngest seemed content with any help he could give. His eyes would light up whenever one of the older guys asked him to lend a hand and whatever Taemin did, he did neatly.

It was also the maknae who realized only three weeks before the supposed opening date of the coffee shop that something really important was still missing. On Tuesdays, Taemin usually went to his dance lessons – which were the only hobby still kept by any of the boys – and one of the hyungs would pick him up afterwards.

That day, it was Minho’s turn and he happily went. Thinking of the productive day he had spent at the shop made a smile bloom on his face and as he stood leaning against a wall, laughing to hinself, he earned himself a few wary glances.

When Taemin came out of the familiar, tall building he seemed jittery and excited, bouncing on his feet as he walked towards Minho, but the truant assumed it was just because Jonghyun and Kibum had gone out for hairdye earlier and he wanted to see the result of their trip quickly.

However, as soon as Taemin opened his mouth, Minho was proven wrong.

“We don’t have uniforms yet, hyung!” the maknae said in an urgent tone, still out of breath – whether it was from dancing or from running up to Minho, no one could tell. “How are we going to work at a coffee shop if we don’t have uniforms?”

“Uniforms?”

Minho frowned slightly as his mind immediately jumped to the kind of uniform soldiers would wear. It took him a moment to realize that Taemin was actually talking about the clothes they would wear to work, which typically all looked alike.

“You’re right, Taemin-ah,” Minho said as they turned to make their way home. “I don’t think Jinki-hyung ever mentioned that before. And neither did Key.”

“Yeah, right? We thought about everything – coffee makers, blemders, furniture, decorations, even music and plates and cups that Jonghyun found in his friend’s basement. Kibum-hyung designed a logo, too, but we never talked about what to wear.”

“It could be difficult to get appropriate clothing,” Minho told him with a frown as he scratched his cheek, thinking hard. “I don’t wanna worry you or anything, but we’re pretty much out of money. We’d need aprons and all, with the logo of the shop. God, what are we going to do?”

For a moment, they both walked beside each other in silence, Taemin’s bag hitting his leg with every step. Suddenly, the maknae raised his head, triumphantly turning to Minho.

“Maybe Kibum-hyung can make us some? He knows how to sew and we could use old clothes and other stuff we don’t need. I know Jonghyun-hyung owns an ugly old flower blanket, but I’m sure hyung could make something really cute out of it.”

“You think?”

Minho’s raised eyebrow showed just how skeptical he was. Even though he didn’t doubt Kibum’s sewing skills at all, he wasn’t too keen on wearing aprons made of old blankets and clothes. Admittedly, though, he didn’t even own a flannel without holes at the moment and they really didn’t have a lot of money left, so Taemin’s idea could really help them.

“Okay,” Minho finally agreed, “let’s ask the hyungs what they think about it. And Key-yah of course, he may not have time.”

“I guess I’ll just need to find the time,” was Kibum’s reply when they asked him.

The older boy was lying sprawled out across the bed he shared with Jonghyun. He looked absolutely spent with one hand covering his tired eyes, yet he still didn’t hesitate a second before agreeing to Minho’s and Taemin’s proposal.

“You sure you should do that, Bummie? You’ve got a lot of work already with your studies?” Jonghyun’s gentle voice called from the adjoining bathroom, but Kibum just huffed.

“We need clothing, don’t we? Knowing you lot, none of you knows how to work with a needle and a threat – therefore it has to be left to the almighty king of sewing, me!”

“The almighty Key,” Taemin giggled quietly from his own bed.

The maknae was absolutely fascinated by the English language and whenever Kibum, who was pretty much fluent in it, used foreign words, he tried to repeat them – wrongly, often, but the thought was what counted.

“I’ll take care of our clothing, don’t worry!” Kibum repeated as he sat up, running his fingers through his wet hair which was soon to be bleached.

Minho observed the busy boy as he walked over to their closet to observe his materials – the younger knew Kibum would never refuse to take an extra task, for the sake of his own pride. A little chuckle escaped Minho as he turned towards Jinki, who had stayed silent so far.

Suddenly, though, the oldest piped up for the first time.

“Wouldn’t it be cool if we had name tags, too? I mean, we don’t even have to use our real names! But it’d definitely nice of customers could say ‘please prepare my coffee like this, Minho-ssi’ instead of being awkward.”

“Maybe someone will call me hyung,” Taemin added as he stared at the ceiling dreamily, looking right past the dirty spots staining the walls.

Kibum snorted.

“It’s a coffee shop, Taem. Why would little kids walk in?”

The maknae pouted at his answer but Minho had already turned back to Jinki, watching him curiously.

“What would you like to call yourself, hyung?”

“Personally, Onew,” Jinki smiled shyly, fidgeting with his hands as he avoided Minho’s gaze. “I like the sound of it and it’s something new… Like a new start for our coffee shop.”

“Call me Key!” Kibum said in a voice that was still muffled by the clothes in front of his face. “I’m the key to making your day better!”

Right at that moment, the bathroom door opened with an unpleasantly loud creaking noise informing everyone about its current poorly state and Jonghyun stepped out, a towel wrapped around his head tightly.

“You should call me Bling Bling soon!” he cheekily said as he sent Jinki a wink. “My hair will be so bright it will blind you all.”

Such banter was no unusual occurrence in their household. Most of the five boys had never owned much, but what they did own were their tongues. Especially Minho had sharpened his to near perfection, yet in the end it was still Kibum who could leave any of them speechless with his wit.

The only one who didn’t participate in the mindless banter was Jinki, who usually remained a silent observer and listener. The boy oftentimes felt like he would simply embarrass himself with his clumsiness that took over his speech as well if he opened his mouth at a time like this. And, as Taemin had once put it, the oldest was ‘just too bright to counter other people’s verbal attacks’.

Still, that didn’t mean Jinki didn’t enjoy their little arguments. After all, it was their thing, what they had done with each other the day they met and what they still did now.

Kibum stayed true to his words and tried his hardest to finish the uniforms on time. In any free minute he had, he sat down to sew, cut and create pieces that were nothing less than works of art, according to him.

In the meantime, Jinki and Jonghyun went out to hand people flyers Taemin drew. They had to advertise the new coffee shop around the corner, which was opening in less than a month. The closer the dreaded day was, the more nervous they all grew.

That was why on the day of the opening, that rainy, gray and stormy day, the air in the apartment was thick with tension that passed through their body like waves of electricity, making their limbs itch with the need to move.

Kibum was the one moving around the most, even though he tried to hide it as he put the last bits of make-up on Jonghyun and Jinki to finish off their looks. The diva-like boy himself looked absolutely flawless, with his newly dyed brown hair swept back so it wouldn’t bother him in the process of preparing drinks. There was no doubt he had poured his blood, sweat and tears into looking as impeccable as possible, but the slightly red areas along his jawline and his neck hinted at a little more even, suggesting that he had done his make-up over and over again to perfect it. At first Jinki had been hesitant to spend money on such a trivial thing as make-up, but he had given in upon realizing how important it was to Kibum.

Once the boy was done fussing over Jonghyun’s slightly messy fringe and about to move back to stand in front of everyone again, the older caught his wrist and held him back.

“Wait, Kibum-ah,” he breathed, as if he was afraid a loud voice would heighten the tension in the room. “You forgot to put on your name tag.”

“Right, silly me!”

Kibum let out a hollow laugh and reached for his nameplate, but Jonghyun was swift to put it on for him, straightening it with a little smile before looking up at the taller boy.

“Are you ready, too?”

“Me? Of course I am. This was my idea after all!”

Kibum’s eyes shone with excitement and when he turned to Minho, the other was mirroring his expression. The nervousness was still undeniably evident in the boys’ postures and behavior, but now it was mixed with anticipation for what was to come their way.

Jinki shyly glanced around, wondering if it was the right time for him to say something, but Jonghyun made his decision for him.

“We should go, then!” the second-oldest loudly said, his voice unwavering now. “Fighting!”

“Fighting!” they all echoed and, starting with Taemin, the group started to make their way down the narrow stairway that led to the shop one floor below them.

Watching the strands of Minho’s hair bounce before his eyes with every step the boy took filled Jinki with calmness and some kind of satisfaction. Even though his hands were still sweaty and fumbling with his apron, Jinki’s posture gave away that he felt a bit readier to take on the new challenge now.

When they had reached the main room of the shop and gone to their assigned spots, with Taemin sitting at the smallest table next to the door to greet guests and help out with serving if needed, Jinki cleared his throat, attracting everyone’s attention immediately.

“Well,” the oldest said, blushing as he tried to overcome the awkwardness surrounding him. “I don’t think I’ve ever said it before, but this means a lot to me. Being able to re-open this shop with you guys. I spent my childhood here – now I’m getting sentimental and sounding cheesy-“

“True, hyung!” Kibum chimed in, but he was silenced quickly when Minho hit him in the stomach lightly.

“Anyway,” Jinki shook his head with a fond smile, “thank you guys so much for doing this with me. I really hope we’ll be able to succeed with this! Fighting!”

Even though Jonghyun had ended on the same note earlier, the other four boys obediently repeated what their oldest had said. Then, Jinki nodded at Taemin, who got up and stepped towards the door, unlocking it with the key he had been given and turning the sign behind the window so that it said ‘open’.

After that, the waiting began and it was anything but pleasant. Normally, the five boys had more than enough things to talk about, but right now the words got stuck in their throats as they watched the seconds tick by. No one was on the streets, which was expected considering the terrible weather, but all of them had hoped that at least a few people would be driven outside by the errands they inevitably had to run and that even fewer of those would stumble upon their little shop, gratefully ordering a coffee, if not taking a piece of the cake Minho prepared earlier that day.

They all desperately hoped for their first customer to come. Jonghyun and Minho just wanted to get it over with quickly, but Jinki kept worrying that they had made the wrong decision.

Both he and Jonghyun had quit their jobs and Minho was ready to drop out of school as soon as possible, but without customers they would not be able to sustain themselves for long. For now they had a small amount of money saved which they could use until people had started to notice their shop, but in the ended what they needed were regular buyers who were convinced by the quality of their products.

Kibum’s true feelings about the situation stayed hidden behind his perfect mask of confidence and indifference towards any failures that he had practiced for many years. He was silently watching Taemin switch between staring at the clock intently and playing with his own fingers, althoughr none of his actions could make time go by faster.

It took almost one hundred minutes until the first customer burst through the doors of their shop, clothes drenched in rain water and leaving a wet trail on the floor. Jinki quickly straightened behind the counter, greeting the lady, who seemed to be in her mid-twenties if not thirties, with a polite smile.

“Welcome to SHINee world where we brew our coffee with the greatest love!”

The words came out of his mouth rushed and a little bit jumbled, but Jinki couldn’t help but feel a spark of pride at getting his first greeting somewhat right. He was aware he had become quieter and trailed off at the end, yet their first customer didn't seem to mind.

The lady took one quick look at the board above Minho’s and Kibum’s heads before facing Jinki with her piercing gaze that seemed to penetrate through his skull.

She ordered, “I’d like one coffee mocha with whipped cream and chocolate sauce as well as green tea with a squeeze of lemon juice to take away,” all the while sounding very fierce to poor Jinki.

The boy still did his best to type in her order with his shaky fingers as Kibum and Minho got to work behind him, preparing the coffee and the tea. After receiving her change and her drinks, the lady thanked them and hurried out of the shop as quickly as she had come in, leaving no trace of her being behind apart from the puddles on the floor.

It was only when the door had closed behind her that a sigh escaped Minho, and the noise changed everything. As if it had been a signal, Jinki’s shoulders slumped as Taemin buried his face in his hands tiredly. The kitchen door opened and Jonghyun stepped out, quickly walking over to Kibum and wrapping his arms around his waist as the younger shook his head.

“Wow,” he breathed, “that was something.”

“You were quick to notice,” Minho commented with a sarcastic undertone and from that moment on, everything went back to normal, with their banter revived.

Jinki asked Taemin to wipe the water off the floor and the youngest flashed him a sweet smile before obeying for once, kindly cleaning his own table, too, even though it wasn’t dirty.

In the end, only a few other customers came to visit their shop that day, the most memorable being a shy little boy that didn’t look any older than Taemin, if not younger than the maknae. He went up to the counter and ordered a hot chocolate and the first piece of cake for the day, quietly telling Jinki that he was staying for a while to study.

While Minho and Kibum prepared the food, Jonghyun led the boy to a seat before disappearing into the kitchen to rinse the dishes that had become dirty earlier. When the boy’s order was done, Minho called Taemin over, who practically jumped at the chance of getting to help.

“Please bring that over, will you, Taeminie-ah?” Minho asked him and again, the younger boy obeyed, as it was one of the few occasions where Minho actually acted older than him and more responsible.

When Taemin reached the boy’s table, he placed down his plate and the hot chocolate as carefully as possible, a timid smile blooming on his face when he met the customer’s eyes. However, before he could witness the boy’s reaction, he turned around and hurried away, too shy to start an actual conversation.

He ended up hiding in the kitchen with Jonghyun, who just chuckled at him and hugged him tightly.

“You’re a sweet kid, Taemin-ah,” the older told Taemin in his softest voice, careful not to let anyone hear him. “We’ve all known that for a while, please know that – even if Kibum nags a lot. But he’s just like a mum, you know. Also, don’t let Minho-yah bully you. I’m sure you can fight him if you try to!”

“Stop, hyung, you literally bully me too all the time!”

Taemin slapped Jonghyun’s arm lightly, but he was nonetheless grateful for the older’s kind words. When he returned from the kitchen, his body was a lot more relaxed and even Jinki noticed behind his counter as he watched Taemin walk back to his seat.

That very same evening, Jinki told everyone just how grateful he was once again. They were all lying in their beds with the lights turned off, ready to sleep as it was after midnight. Taemin had already passed out with his face buried in Minho’s side so deeply that Jonghyun wondered if he could still breathe properly.

Beside the second-oldest, Kibum stirred slightly, his eyes glistening wetly in the dark. He should probably be asleep, too, as he had to get up early for school the next day, but Jonghyun had convinced him earlier that if Minho could play truant all the time, so could he for once.

“I’m really, seriously grateful, guys!” Jinki told them as he lay on his back and stared at the dark ceiling, reminiscing about the day. “I mean, there weren’t many customers yet, but it was okay. No catastrophic mishaps. I didn’t break anything and neither did Taemin.”

“It’s great that you kept your condition at bay today, hyung,” Minho kindly congratulated him with a smirk that remained unseen in the darkness. “You’re usually a walking disaster.”

“Shut up Minho, let hyung talk!” Jonghyun scolded.

For a moment it was eerily silent, then Jinki went on.

“I’m sure more people will come soon. We can really succeed with this and I will try my hardest that we can live a nice life soon, I promise! I’ll do my very best!”

“Me too,” Jonghyun said, right before Minho dropped another comment.

“You’re a sap, Jinki-hyung.” After a small pause he added, “but we still love you.”

“I’d hope so.”

“Okay, guys, we should all go to sleep now.”

“Shut up, Key-eomma, you’re barely older than me!”

“But you’re irresponsible, Choi Minho!”

Again, the conversation died down a bit, only to be revived by Minho, who really couldn’t seem to get enough today.

“Guys, I have one problem, though?”

“What is it?” Jinki immediately asked, ready to listen and give advice even late at night.

“Well,” Minho sighed theatrically as he shifted a bit, “Taemin’s breath is tickling my armpit and I don’t know how to deal with it.”

“Breathe right back at him,” Jonghyun told him right when Kibum said, “make the best out of it!”

The two boys both erupted in giggles at each other’s answers, Kibum wriggling closer to Jonghyun until his head was resting by his chest as the older tugged him closer. Kibum then closed his eyes and soon his breathing evened out as Jonghyun’s did too, followed by Jinki’s.

The last one to sleep was Minho, who only managed to think of how grateful he was himself, despite his antics, for a moment before drifting off himself. And thus, the first official day of the SHINee coffee shop had ended.


	2. First conversations and sugary coffee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first time Jinki really talks to one of his customers. Also, Jonghyun gets complimented a lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this has hakyeon from vixx. it's also shorter than the first one, i hope you'll enjoy anyway. i think this turned out very cute.

The next few days weren’t their most busy ones, but they still ended up for the five boys working at the SHINee World coffee shop. It took most of them quite a while to get used to the new situation and the coming and going of customers, even if there were still only few.

Whenever Kibum, Taemin and occasionally Minho were at school, Jinki and Jonghyun would take over the shop completely, which was why they only sold cake in the afternoon. The two oldest soon learned how to do their respective tasks faster, though, until even Kibum complained that he couldn’t keep up with Jonghyun’s pace anymore.

The shop already seemed to have gained its first regular, although it hadn't been open for long. The young boy from the first day, who had received a smile and a hot chocolate from Taemin, had been coming in frequently. He always ordered the same thing and sat in a corner of the room for a few hours, bent over his books reading.

After the fifth time he came, Jinki started to wonder about the boy’s name and his reason for coming here every day, but the man was too shy to ask whenever their customer came up to the reception counter. His doe eyes were almost larger than Taemin’s when he scanned the drinks on the board behind Jinki, but his skin was of a much darker complexion, shining in soft bronze tones under the orange and yellow toned lights Jonghyun had picked out for the shop.

The only time the boy spoke to Jinki outside of ordering was a few days after the opening day, when he asked for the toilet. Since Jinki had to stay behind the counter, he sent Jonghyun to show the boy, and the younger man was more than happy with the task. He had spent more than two hours cleaning and scrubbing the customers’ toilet until his own face was reflected by the tiles that covered the floor. It was definitely a big deal to Jonghyun to show a customer their bathroom for the first time.

When Minho returned to the shop shortly after and Jinki told him what had happened, the younger boy burst into laughter and started to tease Jonghyun about it, resulting in him getting whacked in the head with an old, damp towel.

Minho was still busy cringing at the thought of being hit with a dirty cloth when the door opened and the bell, which Jonghyun had installed right above it yesterday, chimed loudly, announcing the arrival of a new customer.

Jinki, fully adopting the role of a professional and distant yet kind cashier, smiled his most polite smile as a young man walked in, pulling down the hood of his dark jacket which had been protecting him from the rain. He appeared to be around Jinki’s age, maybe a bit older, but his clothes looked neat and much more expensive than anything the cashier could ever afford.

Still, the new customer didn’t give Jinki the impression of him being stuck up as he walked towards the counter with a smile of his own, bowing to the shop’s owner.

“Welcome to SHINee World!” Jinki said the greeting which he, by now, knew by heart.

Even though the words were merely a catchphrase, the man smiled even more brightly at them. He scanned the board listing the beverages with narrowed eyes, unsure of what to order. Finally, he turned to Jinki, who was patiently waiting for him to order, taking a deep breath.

“So, I’m sorry to bother you but I’m a bit indecisive today,” he said and his voice was surprisingly soft as he talked, contrasting with his tall height that surpassed Jinki’s own. “Could you maybe recommend me a drink? What do other people order when they come here?”

“Oh, that,” Jinki laughed awkwardly as he could feel his palms start to sweat. “We actually haven’t been open for that long. Our first day was four days ago, on Monday. And with the bad weather, not many people go outside and even fewer go on a hunt for new cafés.”

His voice became quieter at the end and Jinki could have slapped himself. He had never held a real conversation with a customer before and his nervousness was showing a lot. The other man must have sensed his discomfort as well as he stepped back a bit, giving him room to breathe more freely.

“Don’t worry, please, I completely understand. It’s true that the weather is keeping a lot of people holed up inside – my own flatmate is like that, too. He just stays in his bed all day watching videos of animals. Though at this point, I’m questioning if he’s actually a cat himself.”

The soft laugh that had escaped the man’s mouth just now immediately made Jinki relax a little bit. He still didn’t like the fact that he hadn’t been able to answer the customer’s question, but the guy seemed kind enough to ignore it.

Apparently, he also liked to talk a lot, quickly going on before Jinki could chime in.

“I love discovering new places where I can eat and study, though. I’m a Med student, even though I originally planned to pursue dancing after school. But I’ve been told I have quite a calming aura, as long as I don’t get riled up, and I like helping others, so it must be right. My major I mean.”

Suddenly the man stopped talking, his eyes widening comically as if he had only just realized what he was doing.

“Aish, what am I even talking about,” he then added with a sheepish smile. “I shouldn’t be telling you my whole life story – you must have other things to do. Well, I guess I’ll let you choose a beverage for me then, if that’s not too much trouble. I enjoy a good surprise every once in a while – by the way, I like a lot of sugary and sweet things.”

“I’m sure Minho – our barista on duty right now – can make you something to meet your tastes,” Jinki carefully stated, still not daring to be a little bolder with his statements. “We have a lot of different recipes for drinks that we use, so everyone can choose depending on what they like. Variety is very important.”

“I totally agree! But if you get me something sweet, I’ll be happy – however, my dentist not so much.”

The man sighed.

“Ah well, I’m holding you up again. Thank you in advance for helping out a terribly indecisive college student-“ his eyes narrowed again as he bent forward to read the character’s on Jinki’s name tag, “-Onew-ssi. That’s quite an interesting name.”

Jinki felt hot as he looked down on the register in front of him, fumbling with the keys.

“It’s not my real one, but I like it better – for working at least.”

“So it’s like a pseudonym! Well, I should probably introduce myself, too, after making you talk to me for five minutes. I’m Cha Hakyeon, pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“I’m glad you’ve found the way here, Hakyeon-ssi,” Jinki replied with a shy smile. “Are you planning on enjoying your drink in the shop?”

Hakyeon eagerly nodded at his words, his eyes flickering towards a table next to the wall.

“Actually, yes. I like the atmosphere of this shop, it’s cozy. Do you have any cakes by the way?”

At that question, Jinki turned around towards the kitchen door to call his barista, who had magically disappeared right before Hakyeon’s arrival. Considering the events that had taken place before the man had come in, it was likely that Minho was still scrubbing his face after getting hit by Jonghyun’s towel.

“Minho, come out here!” Jinki yelled, hoping to reach the other instantly. “You’ve got some work to do.”

He then turned back to Hakyeon with an apologetic smile, suddenly feeling awkward for the slight delay that had been caused by their chattering and Minho’s absence.

“We have some, it was baked earlier today, I hope you don’t mind that. It’s chocolate-cherry-cake by the way.”

“That sounds perfect!” Hakyeon happily told him. “Plus, it contains cherry, I may not be as unhealthy as I feel ordering a sugary coffee and cake. But could I get extra whipped cream?”

“Of course!” Jinki confirmed as he straightened up behind the counter.

Throughout the conversation his muscles had loosened up until the tension that had held his body in its tight grasp was completely gone. His movements were confident and unwavering as he stepped over to where Minho was waiting, sliding him the paper with the order he had thought up while talking to Hakyeon.

The younger boy accepted it without a hitch and Jinki turned back to his customer, giving him one last smile that was considerably brighter than the first one Hakyeon had received.

“Please sit wherever you like, your order is coming right up! I’ll charge you once you’re done, if that’s okay.”

At that, Hakyeon’s head bobbed up and down, signalling Jinki he agreed to his offer.

“That’s perfectly fine. I think I’ll choose the table back there, it looks really snuggly for some reason.”

When the tall man turned around to walk to his seat, Jinki left his position behind the counter for a moment in favor of going to the kitchen where Jonghyun was still doing the dishes. How he always managed to do that when Jinki wanted to talk to him was a riddle the older boy had yet to solve, but he decided today was not the day to question Jonghyun’s excessive dish-scrubbing.

“Jjong,” he called the other man’s nickname, which Kibum had thought up long ago, a fond undertone sneaking into his voice, “I need your help for a second. Can you be a waiter for a few minutes and take the order Minho-yah is preparing right now to the desk in the corner?”

“Of course, but hold on, I gotta wash my hands!”

Jonghyun quickly went over do the sink, a slight bounce in his step as he talked.

“You're happy today,“ Jinki smiled.

The fact that Jonghyun seemed so eager to help out in the shop left him feeling pleasantly warm. The short man usually wasn't in charge of customer service, but at that moment, Jinki thought he should consider letting him work as a waiter, if it made him this happy. The dishes could be done by anyone in the end. And the last thing Jinki wanted to do was to make Jonghyun feel unimportant when his help was definitely needed.

“Wait, your tag is about to fall off!” Jinki called Jonghyun back right when the younger was about to slip into the shop, yet halting when he heard his name.

Jinki quickly went over to him and secured the name tag on his shirt, admiring his own work for a second before deciding Jonghyun was fit to go.

“Take over the counter afterwards, will you?” Jinki added spontaneously. “By the way, this uniform looks great on you. Feels like Kibum-ah designed those aprons specifically for you to wear.”

“He used me as a model while making them.”

Jonghyun looked at the ground as he spoke, his usually soulful and strong voice slightly muffled. He wasn’t used to getting such straightforward compliments, much less from Jinki, which caused a faint red blush to coat his cheeks.

Flustered by his own reaction to the older boy’s words, Jonghyun quickly spun around on his heels and walked out, ready to serve what drink Minho had been preparing. He found the younger barista in the midst of a conversation with Hakyeon. Neither of the men seemed to mind the fact that their voices carried across half of the room so that everyone was forced to listen to their talk.

“Oh, Jjong-hyung!”

Minho’s face lit up when he spotted the shorter man, who had immediately busied himself with re-arranging the signs on the counter, his well-trained eyes instantly spotting the items that were off position and would awkwardly interfere with the aesthetic of the shop.

When Minho called him, he looked up curiously, his eyes full of unspoken questions as he waited for the younger to elaborate.

“Hakyeon-hyung said he liked our decorations,” the barista went on once he had Jonghyun’s attention. “I told him you’re the one in charge of that.”

Ignoring the fact that Minho had already moved on to the stage of addressing a customer as ‘hyung’, Jonghyun’s gaze found Hakyeon’s brown eyes. He kept up the contact for a second before lowering his head to express his gratitude.

“Thank you, I’m glad you like it.”

“I was very impressed by the visuals of this shop, truthfully, especially as it’s newly opened,” Hakyeon explained with a kind smile. “You surely seem to be good at noticing and paying attention to details as well as the overall impression people may get. That’s quite rare, actually, it took me years to not lean towards one side each time I observed a scenery, an object, a painting – anything really.”

“I like art,” Jonghyun politely replied while starting to prepare the tray he would use to bring Hakyeon his order. “Sadly, I haven’t had many chances to go to museums and appreciate the paintings there so far, but a lot of artists present their art on the streets, too, and I’ve seen many impressive things.”

What he left unsaid was that he, in fact, could hardly afford to pay the admission charge of most prestigious museums, let alone to buy an artwork for himself. Neither Hakyeon nor Minho said anything about it, although it was quite clear to the both of them why Jonghyun didn’t get to look at paintings often.

Instead, Hakyeon changed the topic as he said in a tone full of warmth, “I’ve noticed another thing, though. You have a very beautiful voice, do you sing by any chance?”

This time, it was, again, Jonghyun’s turn to blush at yet another compliment he had received today, ducking his head a bit more as he fiddled with the teaspoon in his hand.

“I like music a lot, but I never really tried singing…professionally or anything. It’s mostly limited to the shower, and I’m sure it doesn’t sound all that great either.”

“That’s not true, hyung, you sound fantastic!” Minho butted in in a low voice, completely unlike his usual wit.

A frown appeared on Jonghyun’s face when he started to wonder if the whole world was plotting against him, with how many nice words and compliments he continued to receive today. Luckily, Minho was just done with Hakyeon’s order, which gave Jonghyun a task to fulfill.

Careful not to spill the coffee which had extra whipped cream on it, or even worse, drop the order on the floor altogether, the short man shuffled over to Hakyeon’s table and successfully delivered the tray, returning to his spot behind the counter as fast as he could. Fearing it might make Hakyeon feel uncomfortable to be watched by two strangers while he was eating, Jonghyun was about to go back into the kitchen when suddenly the doorbell rang again, announcing the arrival of another person.

This time it was not a customer but Kibum, still clad in his school uniform that fit him perfectly. His dark grey blazer and the brown hair framing Kibum's face made the blush on his cheeks pop more and even Minho had to admit he looked great.

The diva-like boy confidently marched into the shop, dropping his school bags on one of the nearby chairs before bowing to their customer. As he bent down, Hakyeon’s eyes twinkled before the man turned back to his cake and Kibum joined Jonghyun and Minho behind the counter.

“You’ve already baked a cake, I see,” he stated after quickly checking out the ingredients they had left as well as the small refrigerated area of the counter where they kept their cake. “Do you need any help right now? If not, I’ll go upstairs and take a shower and then pick Taeminnie up from dance.”

Before Minho could talk Kibum into switching places with him in order to get the opportunity to pick up Taemin, Jonghyun shook his head and said, “it should be alright, Jinki-hyung is in the back doing the dishes. By the way, can you believe he actually talked to a customer today?”

At the last part, Jonghyun lowered his voice dramatically so as to avoid being heard by Hakyeon, who was happily munching on his cake. Kibum’s almond-shaped eyes widened at the newly-gained information.

“Impressive,” he hissed. “I’ll have to cook dinner to congratulate him. Do you know if we have any money left that I can buy some ingredients with?”

“Hyung has some,” Jonghyun told him.

A year back, the both of them had been living off cup noodles and the occasional scraps Minho could sneak out of the home he hated so much. During the twelve months it had taken them to rebuild the coffee shop, money had been sparse and they had been forced to skip one of their three meals more often than not.

However, lately the situation had gotten a bit better, as Jinki had put aside more money than they actually needed to open the shop – now was the time to use it.

After conversing with Minho and Jonghyun, Kibum made his way through the kitchen and up into their apartment, yet not before picking up his bags and wrapping his boney arms around the boys on duty behind the counter.

Merely fifteen minutes later he re-emerged, having exchanged his uniform for a tightly fitting pair of pants and a simple short paired with a worn leather jacket, all items of clothing that didn’t fit nearly as well as his school clothes. Still Kibum looked nearly flawless and had Hakyeon not been there, Minho would have whistled when the slightly older boy walked out of the shop to pick up Taemin from his bi-weekly dancing lessons.

The rest of the afternoon passed in a blink, with a few customers coming in including their young regular, who shyly chose to sit as far away from Hakyeon as possible. Meanwhile the talkative man stayed almost until closing time, making sure to tell Minho how much he had liked the cake and the drink.

“It was phenomenal,” he praised. “I’d eat another piece right away, but my roommate would kill me, since he’s preparing dinner for tonight. Still, I’ll probably come back soon to enjoy another afternoon here.”

“We’re pleased to hear that, Hakyeon-ssi,” Jinki announced from his usual spot right behind the counter.

He had returned a while ago, going back to his cashier duties while occasionally stepping in to help Minho and Jonghyun with the drink-making. The area where they mixed the drinks looked like it could use some water and cleaner after Jonghyun had spilled milk there and failed to wipe it away directly afterwards. Jinki also suspected that his hands were sticking to the register a bit too much because Jonghyun smeared caramel sauce on it, yet he didn’t really mind.

In the end, he just felt happy that today had been such a blessed day for their coffee shop, his grateful smile speaking for itself as he turned to send Hakyeon off into the night.

“I made the cake, but it’s not my recipe,” Minho told their chatty customer after he had once again praised his cake. “It’s from Key – he also works here – and he’s got it from his grandmother who lives in Daegu.”

“Key? Was that the guy who came in earlier?” Hakyeon’s eyes went wide with curiosity as he put on his brown felt coat to shield himself from the cold.

“Exactly!” Jonghyun replied, his eyes sparkling under the warm yellow lighting the lamps cast over the shop and its owners. “He’s still in school, so he mostly works on the weekends, but he’s a phenomenal cook and baker. He also made our uniforms himself.”

“He sure seems to be good at what he’s doing.”

Hakyeon gave an impressed nod before finally turning towards the door, like he had wanted to minutes ago. For a moment he hesitated, not quite ready to step out into the biting cold, but in the end he had to do so anyway.

“Be sure to tell Key-ssi I liked his recipe!” Hakyeon said as he bid the boys goodbye. “See you soon! I hope many other customers will come by your shop in the meantime!”

“Thank you, Hakyeon-ssi,” the three men behind the counter chorused perfectly, exchanging confused gazes at their newfound synchrony before all of them burst into laughter.

All the awkwardness and initial fear that had kept them from interacting with their customers properly seemed to have vanished in that moment, only leaving room for more talks with people like Hakyeon and friendly relationships they could build up with their regulars.

As if they had somehow sensed the heartfelt moment the other three boys were sharing, the door opened for the umpteenth time that day and Kibum and Taemin stepped into the homely warmth of the coffee shop, the latter carrying his bag with his dancing clothes and shoes while Kibum was loaded with groceries.

Jonghyun immediately approached him to take one of the bags, curiously taking a peek inside yet recoiling when Kibum slapped the back of his neck lightly.

“Stop that, hyung!” he commanded. “You’ll find out what’s for dinner tonight soon enough. Thank you for the money by the way, Jinki-hyung. Tonight will be a feast, hopefully.”

“I picked out some good stuff,” Taemin piped up from his spot by Minho’s side, his eyes gaining an excited sparkle at the prospect of getting dinner soon.

The five boys were so used to saving money wherever they could that it felt unnatural to them to eat a real meal for dinner now. However, Jinki had calculated earlier that they were slowly starting to make profits, judging by how many customers came in today – therefore, the oldest had figured they could treat themselves tonight and handed Kibum quite a big amount of money, which the younger had obviously invested well.

“How about helping me cook, Minnie?” Kibum offered as he detached himself from an excited Jonghyun’s side. “If you all don’t need help cleaning up of course!”

“Don’t worry, Bummie, we’ve got it!” Jonghyun cheerfully sang as his good mood took over the others as well. “Right?”

While Jinki immediately nodded, Minho had to receive a sharp glare from his hyungs first before agreeing, but in the end the younger didn’t refuse to help anyway. Their day ended as well as it had started, with a delicious and filling meal for dinner and hours of sitting together and sharing stories about their day.

Right before they were about to clear the table and go to bed, Jinki raised his glass that was filled with clear water.

“Let’s all wish for more customers and a successful business in the future!”

And that they did – and their wishes were fulfilled soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey everyone, here's to another chapter.
> 
> lately i haven't had a lot of time to write (and i also wasn't the most motivated), i'm taking driving lessons atm so wish me luck so i won't hit anyone.
> 
> i'll continue this, though, mostly because it's a no pressure project. the chapters are only loosely connected and it's mostly me being soft for various members of shinee (and some other groups that have yet to appear). idk if i asked already, but can anyone guess who the 'regular' is? it's p obvious lol.
> 
> anyway, i hope you liked this chapter and that you're doing well. i'll see you (hopefully soon). thanks for sticking around


	3. Mission: Find Taemin friends!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taemin is shy, so Jonghyun and Minho decide to help him out a bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a cute chapter (which i like quite a lot), hope you enjoy ~.~

Over the next weeks, the sky grew a lot brighter and soon it was sunnier and warmer outside than in any fall Jinki had ever experienced. That, in turn, lured people outside again and more customers came to the coffee shop, increasing the sales the five boys were making.

Now that Jinki had gotten more used to standing behind the counter, he also made timid attempts to hold short conversations with the customers coming in. While talking to them, an adorable smile would appear on his face, his cheeks coated by red, and later Jonghyun always teased him about it.

“It’s too bad,” Kibum complained one Friday evening, as he did the dishes with Taemin after closing the shop for the day. “I really want to see a flustered Jinki-hyung.”

“But you get to see that every day, hyung,” Taemin shot back as he used the leftover foam inside the sink to create a construction that remotely resembled a castle. “Jinki-hyung is literally the most awkward and clumsy person I know. It’s really no wonder you and Minho-hyung keep sassing him, he’s just too helpless.”

A fond smile appeared on Kibum’s face at the thought of his and Minho’s teasing and he shook his head at Taemin.

“I know. I just hope hyung won’t whip out his terrible puns anytime soon. He’ll scare away all of the customers.”

At that moment, the door flew open and Jonghyun marched in with a tray loaded with empty cups and plates, appearing strangely enthusiastic. It was unusual to see the subdued and often even depressed man with such a bright smile gracing his face, his eyes glinting with mischief.

“What are you talking about, my loves?” the older sang as he walked over to Taemin to decorate his nose with a bit of foam, after handing the tray over to Kibum of course. “Are you gossiping? If so, I wanna know, too!”

“Oh, just the usual talk about Jinki-hyung,” Kibum smirked as he handed the dirty dishes right back to Jonghyun. “Here you go, you may as well learn to do it by yourself. I won’t be around to play mum for you lot forever.”

“Actually, I am here to ask you to go upstairs and make some dinner. Minho has been whining my ear off about how his stomach feels like it’s made of a hole – don’t ask me what that means by the way – and he’s demanding ramen.”

“Gosh, ramen again.”

Kibum shook his head as he took a worried glance down his slim body, which was still clad in his self-made apron with its cute pattern.

“It’s so unhealthy. Shouldn’t we be a bit more careful with our bodies? After all, we’re supposed to work hard tomorrow, and the week after that, and so on.”

“Aww, Bummie, stop looking at yourself like that,” Jonghyun lightly scolded as he wrapped his arms around Kibum’s waist and pulled him in close without a warning. “Judging by your build, you could be a gymnast for all I know. But, if it helps any, Jinki went out to by some greens earlier.”

“Thank god!” Kibum muttered under his breath.

Then he forcefully put Jonghyun’s arms back where they belonged and turned to leave, not without winking at the two boys before exiting the kitchen. When he was gone, Jonghyun turned to the maknae, who was looking at the dishes with a sulky face.

“So, Taemin-ah, how’s school going?”

Jonghyun’s question was all it took for Taemin to start whining about just how long his day had been and how annoying his teachers were. After a few sentences, Jonghyun started to question his motives because it seemed a lot like the maknae was just trying to avoid his chores by making the older pity him.

However, even if he had seen through Taemin, Jonghyun couldn’t refrain from spoiling the youngest boy once again by taking the towel out of his hands.

“I’ll do it for you,” he said. “But stay here with me. Is there anything else you’d like to talk about?”

For a moment, Taemin seemed to think while leaning against the kitchen counter, watching Jonghyun work. He shook his head, though, seemingly not remembering anything significant.

“Well, I’m still pretty lonely so there aren’t any people I can talk about besides my teachers. But, I’m used to it all now, hyung, don’t worry. I’ll be fine for a few more years.”

Jonghyun nodded at him without a word, though his smile faded a bit as he scrubbed the plate in his hands a little more violently than usual. It was no secret that Taemin had little to no friends at the school he went to. One reason for that was the fact that his family background differed completely from the one other children had, especially the ones going to his school. Ever since they had met each other, Jonghyun had known that people had trouble understanding where Taemin came from and why he was a little bit softer and quieter than other boy’s his age. All throughout his childhood, Taemin had been told to keep as silent as possible and do his best, and now it seemed to have become part of his personality.

After they had moved in together, Jonghyun and Minho had both worked hard to encourage Taemin to come out of his shell more, and the maknae’s true self most certainly had emerged. These days, it almost seemed like he had no respect left for his hyungs when he talked back at them and adopted Kibum’s behaviour and wit. His dance classes seemed to help a great deal, too, and Jonghyun knew for a fact that one of Taemin’s seniors, namely Lee Seunghyun, had taken a liking to the young yet talented boy.

Still, Taemin remained unaccepted at his school and sometimes Jonghyun wondered if it would cause problems one day. Kibum was facing the same problem, too, as he went to an even more prestigious school than the maknae – he was surrounded by society’s richest offspring every day.

However, each time anyone brought up the topic, the diva-like boy would shrug it off with a laugh, claiming he was better off without depending on others anyway.

Even though Jonghyun was aware that Kibum mastered the task of hiding a lot of his feelings behind his perfectly trained mask of impeccability, he trusted the younger enough to leave him be.

In the end, Kibum was the most responsible and mature member of their little family, anyway, and Jonghyun doubted he could have helped him in any way. If there was one personality trait that could be assigned to the pushy boy once and for all, it would be stubbornness, which in turn kept him from accepting other people’s help.

When it came to Taemin, though, Jonghyun wasn’t as powerless. He knew for a fact that the young boy was in no way asocial and liked to talk for hours if he felt comfortable enough. His soft and airy voice wasn’t unpleasant to listen to and neither was his face repulsive in any way. The only problem Taemin was facing, in Jonghyun’s eyes, was his own inability to approach others.

Even now when Jonghyun’s eyes landed on his small bent over frame, the older couldn’t imagine him going up to another person and joining a conversation on his own account.

As if he had felt Jonghyun’s dark gaze on him, Taemin turned around again, sending him a reassuring smile at the memory of their conversation that had ended only seconds ago.

The frown on Jonghyun’s face told the younger that he was worried again, which Taemin didn’t like quite as much as the carefree and cheerful version of Jonghyun that had come in earlier.

“I’m fine, hyung, seriously. I probably sounded pretty pathetic just now,” the maknae said, “like I’m emotionally constipated and hiding it. Yet, I can tell you without feeling any guilt – there’s nothing wrong with how things are. Living with you and the other hyungs and running this coffee shop is enough for me.”

Taemin had to fight the urge to cringe at his own words after he had ended, mentally beating himself up over how cheesy his statement had sounded. However, something about Jonghyun’s expression had changed while Taemin had been talking.

A determined glint had appeared in the older’s eyes and the longer Taemin observed him, the more dangerous he deemed the change to be.

However, he would not get to find out what was going on in Jonghyun’s head as at that moment, the back door of the kitchen flew open and Minho stomped into the room, his movements holding so much force that both Jonghyun and Taemin flinched.

“Food’s ready,” the second-youngest barked before spinning around in an instant, almost hitting his head on the doorframe as he left the room.

Jonghyun and Taemin scrambled after him as fast as they could, for none of them dared to attract Minho’s wrath in a moment like this – hungry Minho was nothing short of frightening. Jonghyun had actually feared before that the younger would end up eating him or Jinki one day, with how much he acted like a starved wolf.

Making a huge ruckus as they stumbled up the stairs, the three boys soon reached the entrance of their tiny flat and forced their way into the crammed main room that was filled with the delicious smell of Kibum’s ramen.

Jinki was already sitting at the table, looking ready to dive into the food, but when he caught Minho’s eye he quickly left his chair and backed away, only returning when he was sure he wasn’t in immediate danger.

As soon as everyone had sat down, Kibum, whose face was shining with moisture under the poor lighting provided by their only lamp, proceeded to carry over the pot.

His hair was sticking up in all possible directions so the boy ran his slender fingers through his fringe, shaking his head at the fanatic glow in Minho’s eyes.

“You could at least thank me for making dinner, Choi Minho. I sacrificed my hair and my good looks while being attacked by steam for half an hour.”

Of course, Minho didn’t react in the slightest, but Jinki, being the ever-kind soul he was, turned to Kibum, squeezing his eyes shut as he smiled his brightest smile.

“Thank you, Bum-ah, that’s really kind of you.”

“There we go,” Kibum’s mouth morphed into a satisfied smirk. “Go on then, eat. But leave something for everyone else, too, Mango boy.”

Taemin erupted into giggles at the way Kibum had addressed Minho, but he managed to muffle his laughter with the napkin Jonghyun had attentively placed next to his bowl. Any other time, Minho would have retorted something, but today he only had eyes for the food as he filled his bowl to the brim with noodles and broth.

Worrying there might not be enough left for everyone, Jonghyun peeked into the pot with his eyebrow raised. Luckily his fears weren’t confirmed and he was only hit by a cloud of steam before realizing Kibum had made enough for everyone.

Satisfied, Jonghyun filled his own bowl as well and when he picked up his chopsticks to eat his first mouthful, his eyes landed on Taemin yet again. That was when he was reminded of his earlier realization and the thought brought a smile to his face. Soon, it would be time to take action, but not yet.

****************************

Only two days later, the topic of Taemin’s friendlessness was brought up again, this time in a conversation between Minho and Jonghyun. The two of them were in the kitchen preparing two cakes for later while Jinki held his positions behind the counter in case anyone came by.

Typically, the mornings in the coffee shop were rather quiet and tranquil after the daily rush-hour. However, the latter still didn’t affect the boys as badly, since their shop had only been opened a few weeks ago.

Therefore they could afford to leave only one person behind the counter while two of them worked on the culinary dishes in the kitchen. Over the last few weeks, Jonghyun had grown to love those mornings where he could switch between different doing tasks. In the afternoon, the kitchen was occupied by Kibum and Minho, who had claimed it as their working space, and while it was true that Jonghyun’s main tasks had to be done elsewhere, he still wished the younger two boys would let him into their territory on occasion.

During hours like this one, when there were only the three of them present with Taemin and Kibum being at school, Jonghyun was perfectly contented with how things had played out. The short man quietly hummed to himself as he filled the bowl in front of him with flour, baking powder and sugar while Minho prepared the cream for the topping of today’s cake.

That was when the younger boy suddenly spoke up out of the blue, catching Jonghyun by surprise with the topic he chose to address.

“It’s kinda weird picking Minnie up from dance sometimes. You know, he always comes out on his own and I’ve only seen him with another person once. And well, that was his senior who’s teaching there.”

“Seunghyun-ssi?” Jonghyun inquired curiously. “Yes, I think Taeminnie talks to him a bit. But apart from that…”

“You know, when we’re on our way back he talks like there’s no tomorrow, telling me about this and that.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem, though. After all, you like talking just as much,” Jonghyun teased slightly, earning a light slap from Minho.

“So do you, Almighty Master of Rambling. We all do – well apart from Jinki-hyung maybe, but hyung’s just too damn introverted. Anyway, what I originally wanted to say was – I wonder if he talks to anyone but us?”

“You mean he’s silent all day?”

Jonghyun stopped running his fingers through the mix of soft flour and scratchy sugar in front of him at Minho’s confession. He was wholly focusing on their conversation now.

“I don’t know. I’ve simply never seen him with other people before. But that can’t be healthy, can it?”

“True that…”

“I mean, it’s even weirder not to have friends at school…like, at all. The only reason I still go there sometimes is simply because I like talking to the people there. I’m pretty popular after all.”

“But you also have no shame,” Jonghyun teasingly retorted, even though the genuine expression on his face gave away the fact that he did take the matter seriously.

Minho pouted a bit at his hyung’s words.

“Hyung, that’s not true! The people there love me because I’m a rebel or something…”

“Sometimes I think it’s kind of our job to find Taemin some friends,” Jonghyun thoughtfully said after a few moments.

He had put his bowl aside in order to prevent accidentally pushing it off the table with his elbows while talking to Minho. Instead, his head was now propped up on his hands as he eyed the younger boy next to him.

Minho gave a curt nod, his expression slightly grim.

“We need to be careful when choosing, though. What if Taeminnie becomes friends with some random thug who influences him in a bad way? I don’t want our maknae to turn to malice, you know.”

A small laugh slipped from Jonghyun’s lips at how fiercely protective Minho sounded and the older shook his head with a quiet smile.

“I’m not sure if you are even allowed to talk about Minnie like that, considering you’re not even two years older than him!”

“Wow, hyung, thanks, you’re really picking favorites now,” Minho whined exasperatedly. “So Kibum can mother Taemin and everyone else all he wants, but the second I get a bit overprotective, it’s suddenly illegal.”

“Shut up, Mingo, you’re a fetus!”

The two of them went back and forth with their bickering for a while, throwing witty comments at each other, but after a while they both turned back to doing their respective tasks, Minho finishing the cream as Jonghyun mixed the rest of the ingredients in his bowl. They remained in comfortable silence for a few minutes, yet in the end Minho, who was the least talented at keeping quiet, spoke up again.

“But, hyung, we really need to do something about Taeminnie’s state of being friendless. He’ll go crazy if he has no one at all.”

“Well, except for his four stupid hyungs who probably all have issues…”

“Except for us.”

“Well…” Jonghyun thoughtfully stirred the ingredients of his bowl as he pondered on the matter for a moment; suddenly, his eyes lit up in enlightenment. “Ah, how about we start our mission at his school? I know that Bummie has a day off next week, so he and Jinki-hyung can run the shop while the two of us take a walk to the grocery store and coincidentally we make a wrong turn and end up near Taemin’s school.

“And if he sees us, we could just tell him that we came to bring him food or something.”

“Sounds like a foolproof plan, hyung.”

Minho made the finger-gun-sign at Jonghyun, his playful side emerging at the thought of them carrying out their newfound mission soon. In a sudden bout of enthusiasm, the younger grabbed a teaspoon that was lying close by and shoved it into the bowl with cream in front of him, extracting quite a bit from the delicious sweetness before sticking the metal tool right into Jonghyun’s face.

“What-“ the older spluttered, but Minho quickly took the opportunity to push the spoon past his lips, his eyes crinkling as his expression morphed into a smile.

“Try this, hyung, it’s supposed to be really good,” he grinned and watched Jonghyun’s lips wrap around the metal as the older devoured the cream in seconds, immediately showing an exaggerated reaction.

“Oh god, Minho, I’m on heaven,” he moaned theatrically while squeezing his eyes shut, quickly licking the spoon sparkling clean until there was no cream left on it.

Meanwhile, Minho’s smile had transformed into a smug smirk.

“Hyung, I know I’m pretty much superhuman with my many talents and phenomenal looks and all,” he teased, “but you don’t have to call me ‘god’ yet.”

That immediately earned him a sharp glare, but he just laughed it off and Jonghyun was forced to move on, whether he wanted to or not.

“Anyway, I feel really good about our mission suddenly. After eating that cream, I doubt anything bad is going to happen to me ever again! We’re gonna find Taemin the best friends in the world! Apart from us, of course.”

***************************

Jonghyun and Minho had to wait over a week for the opportunity of visiting Taemin’s school, but finally the right day had arrived. In the morning, Jonghyun and Minho were forcefully thrown out of their beds by a strangely wakeful-looking Kibum, who didn’t seem bothered by the fact that today was one of the rare opportunities for him to sleep in.

“Move, I gotta clean!” he loudly commanded, making a sleepy Jonghyun flinch at the noise. “Oh, and Kim Jjong, just because we share a bed doesn’t mean you get to run away from the responsibility of making it!”

Jonghyun pouted at his words but he obeyed, yet not without pressing a small kiss to the back of Kibum’s head, to which the younger responded with a grimace. Minho, who had always had trouble getting up in the morning, chose to roll around on top of his covers for a bit longer.

With Taemin being gone, though, judging by the bright light that was pouring into the room through the window, Minho was responsible for making his own bed, too, which he carried out with an annoyed groan, mumbling words of protest under his breath all the while.

In the meantime, Kibum hurried around the room to collect stray clothes and other items that had been left lying around, pushing a dazed Jonghyun out of the way more than once until the older finally plopped down on a chair.

“You’re both on shop duty!” Kibum announced when Minho had successfully made his bed. “Jinki-hyung and I had to face the morning rush all alone and there were quite a few customers today. Plus, Taeminnie has been up since the break of dawn, studying for his English exam and going to school of course.”

“You didn’t wake us, though, Bummie,” Jonghyun slurred as he tightly held on to the mug with coffee he had been provided with. “You could’ve gotten us earlier.”

“Yeah, right.”

Kibum didn’t even look at his sleepy form, his eyebrows rising up towards his hairline all by themselves as the boy shook his head. Miraculously, he had managed to put on perfect make-up yet again, even if it was still early in the morning.

The boy flitted around the room for a few more moments, leaving Jonghyun and Minho to wake up on their own account before he finally had enough. He positioned himself in front of the two others, arms crossed in front of his chest and his sharp gaze full of determination.

To Jonghyun, who had really been struggling to keep his tired eyes open for the past few minutes, that was an intimidating sight and definitely not one he wanted to be confronted with in the early morning. The boy seemed to shrink even further in his seat, despite already being of a petite build.

Kibum’s gaze softened a bit when he noted the older’s reaction and he took a careful step forward, placing his hand on Jonghyun’s arm and squeezing lightly.

“C’mon, Jjong-hyung, get dressed now. Poor Jinki is waiting for you and I really gotta clean. This apartment looks like a hurricane swept through here.”

“’s not my fault the kids leave their stuff lying around,” Jonghyun quietly whined yet stood up nonetheless, shuffling towards the wardrobe they all shared to retrieve his clothes.

Contended, Kibum turned to Minho, who was sitting on his bed sulkily, staring off into space. The slightly older boy repeated the action he tried on Jonghyun before, gently nudging Minho and sending him a smile when the other’s head slowly rose until they were looking at each other.

“C’mon, Ming, you too. I’ll make you a coffee while you’re getting dressed, does that sound alright? Well, you don’t really have much of a choice. I promised Jinki-hyung you’d be there in fifteen mins.”

With that, he turned around and walked over to the kitchenette, brewing another cup of steaming coffee for his unwilling flatmate.

Five minutes later, both Minho and Jonghyun were shuffling down the stairs, dressed more appropriately for work by now yet still not much more awake. Jinki greeted both of them with a relieved smile as he wiped his hands on his apron.

“Thank god you’re here, it’s hell to be here all on your own. Anyway, can you take over for me for a second, Jjong? I really gotta take care of some…business.”

An awkward laugh escaped him before he spun around and took off, presumably making his way to the toilet as fast as possible.

Meanwhile, Jonghyun stepped behind the counter. He glanced around the shop which was empty this morning, save for two elderly ladies sitting on a table near the main window enjoying breakfast together.

“Jonghyun-hyung,” Minho’s low voice right next to his ear startled Jonghyun enough to make the short man jump.

“What’s the matter?” he replied just as quietly, in order to avoid disturbing their customers casual conversation with his voice. “Please stop sneaking up on me, Minho-yah, it’s still early. You’re gonna give me a heart attack one day!”

Minho merely rolled his eyes as an answer, which made it quite obvious to everyone that he deemed his hyungs complaint to be overdramatic.

“Hyung, what about our plan?” he finally exposed more details about his thoughts. “You know, the finding-Taeminnie-the-right-friends mission? We were supposed to carry it out today, but now Key is cleaning upstairs and who knows how long he’s gonna take. What are we gonna do?”

“We’re gonna be fine, Minho-yah, don’t worry. We’ll just run some errands later, when Bum and Jinki-hyung are on duty. We’re definitely gonna find some friends for Taemin today.”

Jonghyun sent Minho a reassuring smile before his attention returned to the task at hand, his worries seemingly non-existent.

Minho, on the other hand, couldn’t suppress a frown. He felt skeptical about his hyungs assertion. Not being able to do anything to help Taemin for such a long time had made him grow a bit antsy and the second-youngest had never been the best at being patient.

As soon as Jinki returned from his trip to the bathroom, Minho attacked him with the crucial question, “is there anything we need from the store, hyung? More milk? Flour, sugar? Anything for dinner? Jonghyun and I would be glad to get it for you.”

“Thanks, Ming-ah, that’s kind of you, but it won’t be necessary,” Jinki replied with a smile, confused about the reason for Minho’s sudden enthusiasm.

Normally, the second-youngest liked staying in the kitchen the best, yet today it almost seemed like he would do anything to get away from the shop.

When he noticed Minho’s expression of deep dissatisfaction, Jinki quickly added, “the only thing we may run out of is milk, but Bummie said it’ll be okay if he buys some after school tomorrow. Today, everyone can stay at the shop!”

He tried to flash an encouraging smile at Minho and his attempt at cheering the younger up seemed to work, considering his frown vanished to be replaced by an expression of determination that made Jinki only slightly uncomfortable.

“Ah, I see hyung,” Minho quietly said. “I’m glad…”

The rest of the morning went by smoothly and every customer visiting their shop seemed satisfied, which in turn lifted Jinki’s and Jonghyun’s moods. The second-oldest had soon forgotten about his and Minho’s mission, too engrossed in his work and the satisfaction it brought to notice Minho’s subtle signals that grew more obvious when Kibum finally joined them again.

It was only when the diva-like boy let out a noise of surprise after opening their fridge that it dawned on Jonghyun that he had had plans for today, more specifically plans that had almost been prevented.

“Aigoo,” Kibum huffed as he took an undefinable object out of the fridge. “The milk carton must have leaked and now there’s a whole liter wasted! What are we going to do? We’re going to run out…”

“Oh, Kibum-ah, Jonghyun-hyung and I can go and get new milk! We’re gonna be as quick as possible, too. It’s really no problem,” Minho immediately offered and suddenly it became obvious to Jonghyun that the leaking of the milk might not have been a coincidence after all.

“Really, Bummie, let us go!” he went to help Minho while looking at Kibum pleadingly, finally making use of the knowledge of how to win over the younger boy which he had acquired years ago.

Kibum huffed a bit at the thought of being left alone with Jinki only, since he had gotten the impression that their oldest could need a break from his non-stop working too, yet in the end he couldn’t resist Jonghyun’s glistening puppy eyes.

“Fine,” he said, “you can go. But be quick! And take some money from the box in the kitchen.”

“Thanks, Kibummie, you’re the best!”

Jonghyun swiftly pressed a wet smooch on Kibum’s cheek before he quickly sped to the kitchen to collect the money, eager to start their mission as quickly as possible.

Merely seconds later, the two boys in question rushed out of the shop like the police were trying to catch their tails, leaving behind a puzzled Kibum who could only shake his head at the scene. He had no idea what shenanigans Minho and Jonghyun might be up to now, yet with a careless shrug he figured he would let them have their way.

There wasn’t much Kibum could have done to hold them back anyway, as the two overeager boys were already on their way to Taemin’s school. In their excitement, they had sprinted the first minute, but the sudden exercise was now taking its revenge on Jonghyun’s lungs as he wasn’t used to running. He usually had good stamina, unlike Jinki, yet trying to keep up with Minho’s giant steps was a challenge even to him.

“Would you…slow down a little,” Jonghyun panted as he stumbled behind Minho, trying to remain on the younger boy’s trail. “My legs don’t go on for three miles like yours.”

“Finally admitting you’re short, hyung, I see,” Minho laughed cheekily yet he slowed down a little for the sake of Jonghyun’s mood.

“What kind of person should we go for?” the younger then asked. “As a friend for Minnie, I mean. Girl or boy?”

“Definitely boy,” Jonghyun huffed, “girls only mean trouble, especially when you’re as pretty as Taemin-ah. It shouldn’t be some kind of muscle pig, though, who’s only interested in his own masculinity. Let’s look for someone artistic…and sensitive, who likes music and…”

“Why are you describing yourself, hyung?”

“Yah, Choi Minho, I am not sensitive!”

“Sure you aren’t.”

The smirk on Minho’s face only grew as he replayed the memories of a crying Jonghyun that he had collected over the years in his head. It was no lie that Jonghyun, apart from Kibum, cried the easiest and even if the man had just denied it, they all knew for a fact that his heart was fragile.

Life had never been kind to Jonghyun, apart from the moment when he met Kibum and Jinki perhaps, and sometimes, the second oldest failed at pretending that it didn’t take a toll on him. Hence Minho was only stating the facts whenever he called Jonghyun sensitive, and he didn’t mean it in a bad way, either. After all, he was simply a fan of clear words.

“But back to Taemin, we should choose someone who has the potential to be liked by everyone,” Jonghyun suddenly said. “Just imagine if Key didn’t like Taemin’s new friend. We’d be living in hell from now on!”

“Look, hyung, there’s his school!”

Minho pointed at a huge building surrounded by metal fences and a few trees that had appeared in front of him, namely the school Taemin went to. Lunch break seemed to have started only minutes ago, since many students were roaming the vast area in front of the school building, often forming small groups of four or five persons.

A few loners were wandering around, too, and Jonghyun spotted a girl sitting on her own with her lunchbox while drawing into a small book. For a second, the short man’s back stiffened as he worried they hadn’t given Taemin enough money to buy lunch, but then he realized Kibum must have made sure of that in the morning.

As relief washed over Jonghyun, Minho was already on his quest of finding the perfect friend for Taemin. He had spotted a bench a few meters away from the school’s entrance and pulled Jonghyun towards it, determined to make it their observance spot for now.

“We won’t be seen here because of the bushes,” he whispered in order not to attract any attention. “Look, I’ve already found our first candidate over there! That guy looks nice, doesn’t he?”

When Jonghyun followed Minho’s pointing finger with his eyes, he was met with the sight of a lanky boy crossing the square on his own, his shoulder slumping under the weight of his backpack. His face looked exceptionally young and even if you could say the same about Taemin’s, this boy was no doubt a few grades below him.

“Ah, don’t you think he’s a little too young?” Jonghyun frowned, not convinced by the first candidate’s appearance. “We can’t pick someone childish – our Taeminnie knows far too much about life already to be hanging around silly people.”

After a few seconds of letting his eyes wander around, he added, “what about the boy over there? The one who just unbuttoned his vest? I think he’s carrying a violin with him, he must like music a lot.”

“Yeah, but do you see his friends? They look a little intimidating… We don’t need that for Taemin-ah…”

This time it was Minho’s turn to be skeptical. The two boys went back and forth pointing out candidates to each other yet never finding a suitable one before Jonghyun let out an exasperated sigh, pinching the skin between his eyebrows.

“We’ll never find someone like this. Maybe we should look for a girl anyway? They’re a lot more accepting and subdued oftentimes…”

“That’s a cliché, hyung, Kibum would kill you for this,” Minho stated, making both of them laugh at the truth hidden in his statement.

It was no secret that Kibum was very particular when it came to the roles assigned to people of certain genders, nationalities, sexualities and so on. He never failed to teach all of them a lesson at night when he felt it was needed and Jonghyun’s words surely would have provoked a monologue of five minutes. Therefore, the second oldest was quite glad Kibum hadn’t heard him.

“Anyway, look at that girl over there,” Jonghyun wiggled his brows a little, almost making Minho burst out laughing once more. “She looks like a noona. Hell, she could even be _my_ noona. Plus, she’s super pretty and…”

“Too pretty,” Minho stated with a deadpan expression. “Kibum would loathe her. He doesn’t like it when people make him feel insecure about his looks. That’s why we fight so much.”

“You call that fighting?” Jonghyun chuckled. “Actually, I’m pretty sure you’re having duels of sarcasm. But that’s just your dynamic. And you love Bummie, don’t you?”

“Of course I do, how couldn’t I,” Minho admitted as he avoided Jonghyun’s gaze, flustered by his own confession. “He’s pretty…hot when he’s riled up. Plus he takes good care of us…”

“That’s why we should find someone he’d like, too!” Jonghyun exclaimed. “Also, I think noona is a teacher or something, and that’d be plain weird… If we asked her to befriend Taeminnie.”

“Wait, you actually plan on asking a person to befriend him?”

“Of course, he’s far too shy to do it on his own! Plus, this way we can get a first impression of that person. And intimidate them so much that they wouldn’t dare hurt him!”

Jonghyun seemed absolutely convinced of his own plan, but suddenly he was startled by loud giggles seemingly directed at him and Minho. He quickly ducked his head when he realized a few girls must have noticed his bleached hair, trying to hide himself away as the last thing he wanted to gain today was an underage stalker.

Suddenly, Minho elbowed him in the side, causing Jonghyun to splutter as pain flared through his body.

“Ow,” he whispered, “what was that for?”

“I found someone,” Minho replied in a low voice, “someone who’s just right. That guy over there, with the glasses. He’s listening to music and bobbing along with his head, and he seems to be about Taemin’s age. Plus, he’s leaving the premises so we can go talk to him without the risk of someone calling the police on us.”

“Great, let’s go!”

Determined to finish their mission soon, Jonghyun got up from the bench and walked straight over to the boy, who only stopped when the short man blocked his way, his eyes widening when he realized Jonghyun was about to talk to him.

“Hey,” the second oldest spoke as Minho positioned himself behind him, “do you know Lee Taemin? About your height, soft voice, soft face, pretty scrawny for his age? Dancer? Does that ring a bell.”

“Woah, I think I’ve heard his name somewhere,” the kid said, sounding a bit intimidated by the sudden flood of questions. “Someone told me he’s a bit weird. Rumor has it that he doesn’t live with his parents because they had problems and one time he-“

“Weird…”

The boy jumped at Minho’s dangerously low voice, looking about ready to run away from the two men in front of him. The fact that Minho was towering many centimeters above him, his arms crossed in front of his chest, didn’t help at all.

“Did you just say ‘weird’,” Jonghyun inquired while moving closer, his eyes narrowed.

The kid probably would have fainted on the spot if a voice hadn’t suddenly called Jonghyun’s name, making him step back immediately.

“Jonghyun-hyung, what on earth are you doing here?”

It was Taemin who was standing only a few meters away from them, his bag slung over his shoulder and a half-eaten banana in his hand. At the scene that had unfolded in front of his eyes, a frown appeared on his face and he shook his head at his two hyungs.

“Leave Jihyun alone, he didn’t do anything to you.” Then he added, “I’m sorry Jihyun-ah, you can go now. Please excuse my hyungs, they were probably looking for me.”

“Ah right,” Minho let out a fake laugh as he awkwardly scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, T-Taemin-ah, we just came to…check if you had enough money for lunch.”

“Of course, Key-hyung gave me even more than usual since he didn’t need his today.”

Taemin’s voice remained sharp even after Jihyun had taken off and the dangerous glint in his eyes made both Minho and Jonghyun shudder.

“Well, that’s good to hear?” Jonghyun added in a tiny voice. “We should go then, yeah, gotta buy some milk for the shop and-“

“Actually, hyung,” Taemin’s voice seemed to slice into Minho’s and Jonghyun’s flesh like only a knife would, “our afternoon classes got cancelled. I’m off for today. I thought I could help out Kibum-hyung since we’ve both been busy lately, but _apparently_ we have to go buy milk first.”

So the three boys went to buy milk. Minho and Jonghyun were particularly jumpy that afternoon, getting startled by only the slightest approaches as they feared a storm had yet to hit them. They had never planned on letting Taemin find out about their mission, but the younger had practically caught them red-handed and it didn’t take a genius to figure out what the older two boys were doing at his school.

It was only after they had closed the shop that the two guilty boys started to relax a bit, since neither Taemin nor Kibum, who would no doubt scold them for their actions, had approached them so far. Jonghyun was just carrying a pile of dirty plates into the kitchen when suddenly Kibum appeared in front of him, the dreaded look of a scowl gracing his normally flawless facial features.

“Kim Jjong, please hold on for a moment.”

Just like Taemin’s had been earlier, Kibum’s voice was sharp enough to make Jonghyun feel the burn of a cut and he quickly tried to make himself small.

“What’s up, Bummie?” he half-heartedly pretended to be oblivious to the reason of Kibum’s approach, yet the younger boy seemed to see right through him.

“Taemin told me an interesting story earlier,” he smirked as he stepped closer, effectively forcing Jonghyun to back off until his body came in contact with the wall. “Can you believe he said that he’d met you near his school shortly after classes had ended for today? Isn’t that interesting, Jjong? I thought you and Minho only wanted to grab some milk from the nearby store…”

Jonghyun’s dark eyes darted around, looking for a way to escape this unpleasant situation, but the older soon realized there was no running away from Kibum. Finally he sighed in defeat, his entire body slumping as he lost the last bit of posture he had had left.

“Fine… But please don’t be mad, Bummie. Ming and I thought Taemin was lonely, so we- Well, we kind of decided to look for a friend for him. So he would be able to enjoy going to school and stuff.”

When he had finished his confession, Jonghyun seemed to shrink even more as he squeezed his eyes shut, not ready to face Kibum’s wrath or whatever the other had in store for him. The diva’s moods could be unpredictable and Kibum’s anger wasn’t something anyone would voluntarily provoke.

For a moment, everything remained completely silent. However, then an unexpected noise rang out to Jonghyun, something he hadn’t thought he would hear. Kibum was laughing. At first, only little huffs were audible, yet over time it grew louder and louder until Jonghyun was sure everyone could hear them by now.

Even though he was glad Kibum wasn’t furious at him, he still felt weirdly humiliated by the younger’s reaction, even if he knew that his and Minho’s mission had been a little silly to say the least.

“Oh well,” Kibum panted when he had finally calmed down a little, small teardrops stuck in the corners of his almond-shaped eyes, “that’s actually quite cute. Pretty stupid, but still a nice thought you two had there. Of course, making friends doesn’t work like that, and you of all people should know. But I’m sure Taeminnie will appreciate your efforts once I tell him about this.”

Jonghyun opened his mouth to protest, determined to hinder Kibum from exposing their activities, yet before he knew it he was pulled into the younger boy’s arms and squeezed tightly. Puzzled by Kibum’s sudden need for skin-ship, Jonghyun wrapped his own arms around the other’s taller form and hugged him back, a shiver running down his spine when he felt Kibum’s breath tickle his neck.

“You’re an adorable, stupid dinosaur, hyung. And Minho is a dumb frog who’s far too convinced of his own looks. But still, thank you.”

And while it was the only heartfelt ‘thank you’ Jonghyun heard that evening, it still left him feeling a little bit embarrassed despite Kibum’s obvious approving of the situation. Taemin only smirked at his hyungs when their plans were revealed to him later, not failing to reassure them that he could do with just them as his friends.

“I don’t even have the social capacity for bearing more than four annoying hyungs at once,” he announced and when Minho, whose pride hadn’t suffered as much as Jonghyun’s, cheekily inquired if he wanted to try with an annoying dongsaeng to change it up a bit, Taemin whacked him in the head with his pillow.

When the pillowfight that erupted thereafter was finally over, Taemin added, “no matter how long it’ll take me to make another friend, I can wait.”

Little did any of them know at that time that the arrival of a new companion would happen a lot sooner than they expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow....the amount of jongkey interactions is so high in this part. i'm sorry.
> 
> pls don't misunderstand (unless you want to ofc), one of the main points of this story is that it does NOT contain any labels, which means everyone can imagine what they like. i'll try to keep the interactions between the boys balanced out, though i'm having a hard time with jinki. he's a bit difficult for me to write, even tho i love him sm.
> 
> anyway, i hope you can bear with me and wait a little longer for the next chapter of my other ongoing fic (if you're reading it, that is). i'm a lazy person >.<
> 
> lastly, i've been working on another thing (for shinee) which i might show to you soon, but i want my friend to betaread it first.
> 
> on that note, have a nice weekend or whatever, and PLS REMEMBER TO SUPPORT KIBUM'S AND JINKI'S SOLOS! They both deserve it so much, Kibum is working so hard to promote his music and Jinki is so kind to gift us something before going to the army. Our fandom is really blessed by all five members.


	4. Nini

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taemin finds out the name of the boy who's been coming to the shop regularly - but does he talk to him, too?

“Hey, so…would you all be okay with me visiting my grandma next weekend?”

It was a Sunday evening a few weeks after the failure of Jonghyun’s and Minho’s mission to find Taemin friends and the five boys that ran the SHINee World coffee shop were all gathered in the same room, each completing their respective tasks, when Kibum suddenly spoke up, his voice sounding unusually shaky and genuinely unsure.

Jonghyun, who had been lying on his back reading a book about coffee and where to find the most exquisite beans, immediately rose from his horizontal position, the bones in his back cracking loudly as he straightened up.

“Didn’t you want to wait until the start of the holidays?”

“Yeah…” Kibum trailed off while his hands continued to work on ironing the boys’ working clothes with quick, determined movements.

The boy frowned as his eyes were stuck on the fabric beneath his fingers; then he took a deep breath.

“Originally, yes,” he decided to start over, “but she wrote that she got pretty sick in her last letter and I want to make sure everything is alright. My last exams are this week, so I won’t have to study much, but I’m afraid it may cause problems with the shifts at the shop…”

At that, Jinki, who had been checking over their profits from the last few weeks at the big table, joined the conversation, the leader of their little family saying, “I don’t think there will be any complications. You and Minho-yah and Jonghyun-ah did just fine running the shop when I was sick a few days ago, so it’ll be alright. Do you need money for the train ticket?”

“I can help, too, hyung!” Taemin’s soft and sweet voice suddenly rang out to them and Kibum’s usually sharp gaze landed on the youngest boy, who was happily playing cards with Minho.

In any other situation, Kibum would have told him to go and study for his upcoming exams, but when seeing Taemin so utterly relaxed and at peace with himself, he couldn’t keep his heart from softening. Secondly, his own worries were plaguing Kibum a little too much at the moment so that he barely had any space left in his head for thinking about Taemin’s studying habits.

“Do you want me to come with you?” Jonghyun asked from the bed, his gaze gentle as it grazed Kibum’s bent over form. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen grandma and maybe you’ll need help or anything…”

The shortest of the group himself made sure to visit his mum once every week, which was easy since she lived in the same city and they were on good terms, unlike Minho was with his family. Nonetheless, Jonghyun knew how hard it could be to return to someone on your own after so many weeks, and the perceptive boy could practically sense the worry radiating off Kibum in waves.

“It’s okay, hyung, but thanks for the offer,” Kibum declined politely, yet this time he completely failed at hiding the slight shake in his voice.

Jinki watched him from his spot opposite the other with a frown and he soon realized it must really trouble Kibum to know his grandma wasn’t well yet so far away from him. The oldest supposed that the only reason their caring friend did not want Jonghyun to come with him was because they would have to pay for another train ticket – however, it wasn’t far from the truth to say that they couldn’t afford another ticket, either, so Jinki was secretly grateful for Kibum’s ability to calculate well.

Meanwhile, Jonghyun had nodded to signal he had accepted Kibum’s decision.

“Okay then… I’ll help you in a moment, but come here first.”

He patted the bed next to him and after glancing warily at his unfinished work, Kibum did actually get up from his chair and shuffle over to the older where he let himself flop down onto the soft surface the bed provided, burying his face in the pillow.

Jinki’s heart ached when he observed Jonghyun throwing an arm over Kibum’s form and pulling him close. It was rare to see their resident caretaker in such a fragile state, or at least Kibum didn’t show his own timidity as often, which was why no one quite knew how to deal with situations like this – except, of course, for Jonghyun, the boy whose skin was so thin that any emotion, positive or negative, could permeate through it.

They all had their own way of caring for each other and Jonghyun’s was very gentle, often leaving the ones on the receiving end feel loved and warm.

As his head filled up with these thoughts and realizations, Jinki’s gaze wandered until it rested on Taemin, who was currently poking Minho’s side aggressively to distract the older boy while he cheated his way through the game. Suddenly, Jinki felt amazed at how in tune with each other Taemin and Minho were.

The second youngest had been very irritable lately, but even though he had yet to tell them what was wrong, Taemin seemed to know a magic spell for making a smile appear on Minho’s face.

For a second Jinki was reminded of Jonghyun’s and Minho’s activities a few weeks prior and a warm smile spread on his face when he thought how glad he was that Taemin seemed to be functioning normally, even with them as his only friends.

On the bed next to Jinki, both Kibum and Jonghyun had pulled themselves up again, apparently ready to resume their work. That was when Jinki felt it was right to say something, to confirm Kibum’s plans for the next weekend.

“So, you’ll be leaving on Friday afternoon then. Jjong-ah or I can take you to the train station, and don’t worry if you only get back on Sunday evening.”

His sudden trip to his hometown became the reason why Kibum wasn’t able to witness the incredible firsthand. Jonghyun sent him off at the train station on Friday afternoon and therefore he wasn’t home when Taemin returned from his extra dance rehearsal in the evening, all red cheeks, skipping steps and squinting eyes.

His three hyungs that were present at that time all gave him puzzled looks as their minds tried to comprehend what exactly had Taemin looking so excited. They needn’t ask, however, as the words started to rapidly leave the maknae’s mouth the second he passed through the door of the shop, knowing all too well that the others had already closed minutes ago.

“Jinki-hyung, you won’t believe what happened today! None of you will!” Taemin exclaimed, dropping his bag with his dancing clothes right where he stood before crossing his arms in front of his chest.

It did not look intimidating or impressive in the least due to the fact that Taemin’s shoulders were still only half as wide as Minho’s or Jonghyun’s, and the adorable sight in front of their eyes made all three older boys smile at the youngest’ antics.

However, for once Taemin completely ignored their reaction, if he even noticed it in his excitement, and continued talking instead.

“Look, a few new guys joined our team today, because their group is splitting and a few of them wanna join us so they’re gonna participate in our performance, too. We were actually twice as many as usual, Seunghyun-hyung almost screamed his head off.”

“Oh, Taemin-ah, there were a lot of customers today!” Jonghyun happily interrupted him as he assumed the maknae simply wanted to tell them that the number of dancers participating in his upcoming performance had multiplied. “Remember Hakyeon-ssi? He came in again today and we had a nice chat with him, he asked about you, too. And our-“

“Jonghyun-hyung!”

Jonghyun’s eyes landed on Taemin who had stomped his foot on the ground like a stubborn child, his bottom lip jutted out in a pout as he attempted to glare at his short hyung.

“I wasn’t done yet! You’re ruining the punchline!”

“There’s a…punchline?” Jinki piped up, but quickly shut his mouth when he, too, fell victim to Taemin’s sharp glare.

“Anyway, before I was rudely interrupted by someone,” the youngest side-eyed Jonghyun which caused the older to back away instinctively, “I was about to go on with my story. I want you all to guess who was there, too. At my rehearsal I mean.”

He snickered a bit as he looked into the puzzled faces of the older three boys, who looked too innocent since they found themselves at a total loss for what to say.

Finally, Minho randomly guessed, “someone from your school? A classmate?” but Taemin only shook his head vehemently as his smile turned into a smirk, a slight hint of evil glinting in his dark eyes.

“No. You know them, too.”

“Maybe…someone from around here? The shop I mean,” Jinki carefully suggested, his brows furrowed as he watched Taemin’s reaction.

It wasn’t the oldest boy’s aim to spoil Taemin’s fun, yet truthfully, he had no idea what could be the right answer so the only thing he could do was guess the way Minho had, even if it meant upsetting the maknae. To everyone’s surprise, the right corner of Taemin’s mouth twitched with irritation, but within a second, the smug smirk had spread on his face again.

“You gotta tell me who?”

“Ah, I know, I know!” Jonghyun chimed in, now seeming a little too excited about the guessing game. “It was Hak- Wait, no, he was here till we closed. But then-“ He only halted for a moment before announcing, “it was the boy that always comes here. He came in today, too, but a lot earlier than usual. It must have been him.”

Taemin’s smirk turned into a scowl at Jonghyun’s answer and Minho could barely keep himself from bursting into laughter, yet managed to hold his chuckles in for the sake of peace and harmony. The maknae looked scandalized enough by the fact that Jonghyun had guessed right, and they all knew how hard to deal with a moody Taemin could be, especially now that Kibum was gone.

“You’re no fun, hyung!” Taemin grumbled after a while of silence, his shoulders slumping slightly as the sole of his shoe scraped over the floor with in unpleasant scratching noise that had Jinki cringe. “I was supposed to shock you all, but you spoiled it!”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Taemin-ah,” Jonghyun genuinely told him, eyes honest, “I didn’t think it would be right.”

“But it was…”

“Hey, Minnie, did you talk to him then?” Jinki quickly stepped in in an attempt to dissolve the tension that had built up between them. “We haven’t even asked his name so far, even though he’s been coming nearly every day since we opened.”

“His name’s Jongin or something,” Taemin quietly said. “They all introduced themselves at the beginning. But I didn’t speak to him directly…”

He continued to shuffle his feet as he tried to hide the lie he had just told – in reality, Taemin knew for sure that the boy’s name was Jongin and that he was half a year younger than him, almost born in the next year, but he didn’t want to let his hyungs know yet. It filled him with embarrassment that he had yet to muster up enough courage to talk to the other boy, who seemed to be as shy as he was. Therefore, he decided to change the topic quickly and straightened up a bit on that behalf, raising his head as the smile made its way back onto his face.

“It’s not a big deal anyway. What’s much more important, though – what’s for dinner?”

“Well… Since Bummie is away, I asked Minho-yah to cook, but he…well…”

Jinki trailed off as his eyes wandered towards Minho who crossed his arms in front of his chest, pretending to be offended by the oldest boy’s words.

“Jinki-hyung!” he exclaimed with a scandalized expression. “You make it seem like I burned our kitchen. In reality, I am a great cook, especially with my little helping elf Jonghyun-hyung-“

“I’m not little!”

“Shut up, shorty-hyung. Anyway, what I meant to say was that I was in the mood for ramen.”

“So we’re eating instant noodles tonight.”

Taemin did his best not to grimace at that prospect, even though he had hoped for something more nutritious after the exhausting dance rehearsal he had been through. However, all boys knew there was no point in trying to argue with Minho, since their second youngest could be more stubborn than Kibum if he wanted to.

And that was why dinner passed without a single complaint being made by any of the present persons, which was a rare occasion. Normally, Taemin or Minho would at least express their dislike for the greens Kibum liked to decorate their food with, but today the only thing swimming inside their biggest pot were noodles floating in a broth made of water and flavored powder that Minho claimed tasted like chicken – to Jinki, who truly was an expert when it came to poultry, it tasted like salt only, yet he didn’t dare to say anything.

Even though Taemin had seemed so excited about his encounter with their most faithful regular at the shop, he didn’t seem too keen on talking about it even later, when they had all gone to bed after playing a few games of cards with each other. Now Jonghyun was sniffling on his own in the bed he normally shared with Kibum, whining about the lack of additional warmth.

“I’m lonely here,” he complained for the third time in a row as he rolled over, pulling the blankets tighter around his small body. “What is life…”

“Do you want me to join you?” Jinki graciously offered, but Jonghyun shook his head with a pout as he buried himself in his self-made cocoon.

“Don’t be silly, hyung, you can’t get a minute of sleep with someone lying next to you, you said that yourself. Don’t worry about me, I’ve dealt with insomnia before and I can do it again.”

At the last part, a tiny smile appeared on Jonghyun’s face, though his eyes turned sad at the same time. It was true that he had battled sleeplessness for years before moving in with Jinki and the other three boys, yet weirdly, sleeping next to someone seemed to help most nights. Now Jonghyun wanted nothing more than to have Kibum’s familiar body by his side, but the only gesture that gave away his true feelings was the way his fingers dug deeply into the pillow his bedmate normally used, knuckles turning white.

When Jinki asked if Jonghyun was sure he wanted to stay on his own once again, the younger quickly nodded, flashing a quick smile with closed eyes at his hyung.

“I’m fine, but thank you.”

While the two oldest members of the SHINee family had held their little conversation, Minho and Taemin had completely disappeared into their own world that only the two of them could visit. They lay facing each other, their noses only a few inches apart, and every time Minho showed him a new expression, giggles poured out of Taemin’s mouth even though the maknae desperately tried to muffle his laughter with his hand.

Any spectators could watch in astonishment how Minho’s behavior underwent drastic changes every time he was with Taemin. Usually he never failed to whip out a snarky comment and his replies could even be a little insulting at times. Additionally, his mood had been foul lately, which in turn made Jinki and Jonghyun, who worked with the younger during the day, suffer a bit.

However, as soon as Taemin returned from school, Minho’s frown turned into a smile and the usually overly sarcastic boy became unbelievably childish, his eyes gleaming with innocence that no one would assume Minho still possessed. Now it was like that, too, and Minho had turned from a grumpy teenager into Taemin’s personal entertainer. It was hard to tell what exactly had caused the two youngest boys’ amusement or how their playfulness had started, but both of them were completely caught up, their minds off somewhere else.

“Hyung, my stomach hurts from laughing,” Taemin whined when Minho’s faced morphed into a hilarious grimace yet again, and in order to lay more stress on his words as well as to catch the older’s attention, he lightly punched Minho’s stomach.

“Seunghyun-hyung will scold me if I tell him I got my aching muscles from your stupid shenanigans,” he went on as Minho huffed, looking at him with a scandalized expression.

“Ow, that hurt,” the older told him with a scolding glare, even though Taemin’s punch had been considerably weaker than the ones Minho had received from Kibum before. “You have another rehearsal tomorrow?”

Taemin rolled his eyes, unbothered by the fact that he was supposed to respect the older boy.

“I told you all, like, five times already, hyung. Our first performance is next Friday when the holidays start, of course we’re going to practice a lot beforehand.”

“Dammit,” Minho frowned, his teeth digging into his plump bottom lip. It was a habit of his when he became nervous and Taemin’s brow furrowed too as he tried to figure out the cause of his hyungs sudden distress. “I thought you could take over for me for a few hours since I’ve got something to take care of, but apparently that won’t happen.”

“Is it that important, hyung?” Taemin inquired, feeling guilt gnaw at his heart at Minho’s sullen expression. “Maybe I can…”

“Don’t worry, Taeminnie, hyung will do it some other time!” Minho interrupted him and as quickly as it had appeared, his frown was gone and replaced by one of his wide grins that made him look like a frog. “It’s not that urgent anyway, I’ll just help the hyungs out like usual. Plus, you’re too young to be working at the shop…”

He trailed off, his eyes searching a point of fixation on Taemin’s boyish face, when suddenly his face lit up as if he had just remembered something important.

“Tell me, Minnie,” he then said, his tone careful now, coaxing, “why didn’t you talk to the boy – Jongin, the regular, you know? I know you’ve been wanting to for a while.”

“Um…”

Now it was Taemin’s turn to avert his eyes and frown, his gaze darting around as a blush crept up his neck and settled on the tips of his ears. His mouth was bone-dry all of a sudden and he felt the overwhelming urge to blink, even if it was just to avoid looking at Minho.

It was a common belief among young children that if you were unable to see a person, they couldn’t see you either. Taemin seemed to think that too, as his eyes were squeezed shut tightly but he had only turned away from Minho slightly, which amused the older just as much as the maknae’s apparent embarrassment.

Originally, he had just been curious about the boy, Jongin, since he was their most faithful customer, but now that Minho had witnessed such a strong reaction he wanted to know what was going on in Taemin’s head.

“I can still see you,” he informed the younger as he shifted a bit, carefully readjusting the blanket he had wrapped around his lanky body to keep the cold winter air from hitting his naked toes. “What’s with that blush?”

“I’m a failure, hyung,” Taemin whined into his pillow miserably, rolling around to further illustrate his discontentment. “I didn’t dare to talk to him! I hate it so much, but I just can’t go to people and speak to them, especially if it’s out of the blue.

“Hell, if Kibum-hyung hadn’t dragged me along for lunch after bumping into me on my way home from school, I wouldn’t even be here right now. I’d still be stuck…in that place, living through the same stuff again and again and it’d be my own fault. Sometimes I really hate myself.”

Even though the last words had been spoken in a much softer and quieter way, they didn’t fail to alarm Minho whose head shot up from the pillow at Taemin’s statement, his large eyes widening comically.

“Stop saying that!” he commanded, the words coming out a bit more harshly than he had intended. “That’s bullshit, Taemin! You’re really cute and I’m sure we would have met some other way… It doesn’t matter that you’re shy. I just thought that, well, you’d enjoy talking to him.”

“I think I would,” Taemin quietly admitted, still talking into his pillow rather than facing Minho. “It’s just…my stupid shyness keeps me from doing it.”

Minho opened his mouth, ready to add something to the conversation, but Taemin stopped him with a slight wave of his hand before slowly rolling over again.

“I’m tired… Can we sleep now?”

The finality of his statement didn’t leave room for any further discussion, so Minho just nodded. Taemin’s eyes closed immediately and the maknae’s face relaxed as his breathing evened out, but Minho made sure to stay awake watching him a few more minutes, even though Jinki was already snoring on his couch, too.

In the dark room that was only illuminated by the yellow-tinted light provided the street lamp outside the building they lived in, Taemin’s face looked younger than ever, his features soft and full of innocence. Minho carefully brushed back a strand of the younger boy’s hair as he pondered on the words Taemin had spoken earlier.

His teeth nibbled at his lip again as he remembered his own business and, frustrated by the world and how things were going, Minho let his head drop onto the pillow, closing his eyes as well.

Soon, the only one left awake was Jonghyun who lay on his back in the dark, fighting his own silent battle to keep his thoughts locked in a cage for tonight.

**********************************

Even though the conversation with Minho had once again encouraged Taemin to talk to the boy in his dancing lessons, Jongin, the rehearsal on Saturday wasn’t very fruitful. The youngest tried to go up to Jongin and start a conversation, yet the moment his legs had to move, he froze up, unable to control his limbs anymore. It was really no wonder because Taemin hated talking to strangers more than anything.

Whenever Seunghyun, the senior who had choreographed their dance and was leading the team, asked him something in front of the group, Taemin’s throat became terribly dry and he had to keep himself from coughing. Sometimes, he also choked on his own spit and those were the moments that left him the most embarrassed, since he was unable to answer then.

Therefore, talking to the boy seemed like an impossible task to Taemin, and although he hated seeing hope light up in his hyungs’ eyes only to vanish again when he told them he hadn’t spoken a single word, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

However, it seemed like Taemin was fortunate these days, as a wonderful opportunity arose on Sunday, the third day of practicing in a row. Only half of the dancing team had come, including all of those who had only joined in recently, which inspired Seunghyun to split them into pairs so that they could perfect their performance.

If it was a coincidence or Seunghyun’s doing that Taemin ended up with Jongin, the maknae would never find out. However, he didn’t have the opportunity to worry about it anyway since his mind blanked the second Jongin stood in front of him, looking even more baby-faced yet somehow still taller than him.

For a moment, the two boys stayed silent, their gazes wandering anywhere but to the place where the other stood. It was as if any contact between them was toxic, as they both avoided it at all costs. Finally, Taemin opened his mouth and even though he did not dare to face the other boy yet, he couldn’t believe he was actually talking to Jongin.

“Hey, so we’re partnered up now. I…guess I should introduce myself, my name’s Taemin.”

“I’m Jongin, I’m fourteen!” the other boy responded and it sounded like he was choking on each word.

Nonetheless, Taemin couldn’t help but notice that Jongin’s voice was somehow deeper than his own, too, even though he was, apparently, younger. That newly acquired piece of knowledge made Taemin feel a lot more comfortable, though, and he straightened up a bit, finally able to look into the other boy’s face.

“I’m fifteen!” he then said, his voice now confident. “Call me hyung!”

“Got it, Taemin-hyung.”

Jongin’s voice sounded so determined that Taemin almost expected the young boy to perform a salute right in front of him, yet in the end he just bowed deeply, requesting, “please take care of me!”

“So, do you know all parts of the choreography?” Taemin inquired as his body relaxed even more at the chance of their talk turning professional.

It seemed easier for him to talk about dancing with Jongin, as it was a topic he was confident about, and soon the conversation of the two boys was flowing naturally as they went through the moves they had to perform together.

“Your turn isn’t quite fast enough,” Taemin stated when Jongin got stuck for the third time, all during the same movement. “It has to be quicker so you can be ready for the next move on time, otherwise you’ll miss the beat. By the way, is there any dancing style you prefer?”

“Well, I like ballet and contemporary a lot,” the younger boy quietly replied, his brown eyes trained on his feet which had failed him just now. “And modern, if you even differentiate there. But I always thought graceful dancing was the most beautiful.”

“Wow, I feel like that, too!”

Taemin’s eyes widened incredulously when he realized that the boy had voiced out the thoughts he had failed to put into clear words all those years. Whenever Taemin performed modern dance choreographies, he imagined himself hovering, floating on warm air, and in those moments, he turned into a creature as slight and frail as a butterfly.

His steps turned lighter and lighter until they could hardly be heard on the ground and he seemed to fly whenever he jumped, his weight non-existent during the dance – that was the art of Taemin’s dance.

“Really?”

A flash of hope appeared in Jongin’s eyes as the boy looked up, meeting Taemin’s gaze and not backing away when they locked eyes. All the fear and respect that had been evident in the posture of Jongin’s body had vanished, replaced by a childlike excitement over something unexpected.

“I never thought…you’re so good at this choreo, hyung, and it’s so entirely different from classical dance. But…”

Slowly the corners of Jongin’s mouth lifted until he was smiling happily at Taemin, leaving the older no choice but to grin back as an unknown kind of warmth spread in his chest.

“I always felt like I was the only one who thought like that,” Jongin continued, a new note of vulnerability sneaking into his voice. “I mean- I’m a boy and I didn’t know a lot of guys who did ballet. And I’m not graceful – a hyung I know, Yixing-hyung, calls me powerful, but I’m not… I’m a boy.”

Deep wrinkles had appeared on Taemin’s forehead at Jongin’s words and now the older boy opened his mouth, ready to respond with a monologue. He was all too familiar with the mindset Jongin had described, but if living with his four hyungs had told him anything, it was that this view was just not right.

“It doesn’t matter,” he seriously said. “Gender doesn’t matter. Neither does appearance. What you need for dancing is a feeling for the beat, for the music. You need emotions you want to express and you need to find a way to achieve the effect you want to achieve.

“But it doesn’t matter if your moves are powerful and strong or light and graceful. There’s different things you can express through dancing. That’s why there are so many choreographies and why people still continue creating new ones.

“There is no limit to dancing and no rule you desperately need to follow. If you feel natural and at peace while doing ballet, so be it. You’re the one moving, you should know best what you feel comfortable with…

“So instead of worrying if a style suits you because of your appearance or gender or whatever, work on your movements. I think you need to find out what you have to do in order to feel comfortable while dancing and that’s-“

“Giving a little speech for inspiration, I see,” the amused voice of their team leader, Lee Seunghyun, interrupted Taemin’s monologue which Jongin had been listening to intently, his eyes bright and full of genuine interest.

At the choreograph’s sudden appearance he jumped and even though it was Taemin who had been scolded jokingly, Jongin bowed to Seunghyun, mumbling out his apologies.

“It’s fine, boys,” Seunghyun laughed as he ruffled Taemin’s hair, causing the younger to scoff when his senior didn’t look at him. “Actually, I’m glad you seem to be getting along. I don’t think I’ve ever heard Taemin say more than two sentences in a row before.”

Taemin shrunk a bit when his insecurities were brought up again, but at the sight of Jongin standing right in front of him, he remembered that he had made it further than he had ever expected and a smile bloomed on his face.

“It’s just that I don’t like you!” he boldly announced, the devil in his head smirking at Seunghyun’s fake-hurt expression.

“You kids are brats nowadays,” the older man said. “Have some respect, I’m your senior.”

However, he was clearly putting on an act and actually not offended in the slightest by Taemin’s daring statement.

“Well, I’m gonna leave you on your own now!” Seunghyun then said. “Just make sure to practice the choreography!”

The rest of the rehearsal passed by in a blink, even though it was undoubtedly exhausting, especially as most dancers weren’t used to such an intense training routine. Due to their young age, neither Taemin nor Jongin had problems with stamina, but their muscles still ached when they walked out of the dancing studio at precisely seven o’clock, ready to head home after a long day.

“Taemin-hyung, I gotta wait here,” Jongin shyly announced while the two boys were walking down the corridor. “My mum is picking me up in twenty minutes.”

“Oh, well then.”

Taemin stopped, eyeing Jongin who had done the same before awkwardly clearing his throat.

“See you at rehearsal, I guess?” the older boy cautiously said.

“Maybe before that. Maybe at the coffee shop, too,” Jongin hopefully added.

The mention of SHINee World had Taemin smiling all the way to the first floor. It was the first time Jongin had addressed the fact that he was a regular at the coffee shop and he had only done so briefly, but Taemin couldn’t help but feel giddy at the prospect of meeting Jongin there.

He already felt connected to the boy and it was as if he’d always known, as he had been harboring the desire to speak to Jongin since long before the younger had joined his dance team.

When Taemin stepped out of the building, he immediately spotted Kibum leaning against the wall of the building with his tiny, semi-wrecked suitcase next to him, looking exhausted yet happy and thus exactly the way Taemin felt.

“Hyung!” the boy called as he sped up, walking towards Kibum who raised his head and smiled brightly.

“Taeminnie!” he greeted the younger boy with a hug and a kiss on his cheek, unbothered by the sweaty stickiness of Taemin’s skin. “I thought I’d pick you up right after my train arrived, so I have my suitcase with me.”

“That’s so nice of you, hyung!” Taemin beamed, genuinely happy that Kibum had thought of him even after the undoubtedly long and draining day he had had. “The other hyungs said they wouldn’t be here since they wanted to check the finances together, so I didn’t even expect anyone to come.”

“Lemme tell you something even better!” For a moment, Kibum slipped into Daegu dialect, which was linked to the fact that he had spent the weekend in his hometown, but he immediately noticed and shook his head. “Sorry. Anyway, I brought food! My grandma gave me a lot – apparently I look too thin and I showed her those really crappy pictures we took on the opening day of the shop and now she’s determined to feed all five of us. Well, she said Minho looks healthy and handsome. I have no idea what’s wrong with her eyes.”

Both boys giggled at Kibum’s remark before Taemin asked, “is your grandma okay? You mentioned she was ill?”

“She was, but luckily she’s a lot better already,” Kibum replied, relief written all over his face. “It was still a good thing that I decided to visit because she really needs more help than she lets on. She just complained about the fact that I didn’t bring any of you, especially Jjong-hyung. She adores him.”

“Who doesn’t? He’s tiny and cute,” Taemin huffed.

“Yes, I know. Well, one day I want all of you to meet my grandma. She’ll probably love you. But anyway, enough of my weekend – tell me Taemin, how are you doing? Did your exam on Friday go well?”

“Yeah, hyung, it really did!” Taemin proudly told Kibum, who smiled at that. “But, something really exciting happened today! Guess what! I actually talked to Jongin – can you believe that?”

“Who’s Jongin?”

An expression of infinite confusion took over Kibum’s facial features and only then Taemin remembered that the older hadn’t heard about their youngest regular yet.

“The boy who always comes to the shop and drinks hot chocolate there – basically our only regular – joined my dancing team on Friday,” Taemin finally elaborated, watching in awe when Kibum’s almond-shaped eyes widened. “Unbelievable, right? I really wanted to talk to him, but I didn’t dare to. You know, I’m not the best at making friends.

“But today Seunghyun-hyung made us work together and we got along great! He’s really nice, and he’s younger than me – he even calls me hyung!”

Kibum’s smile grew even wider when he saw Taemin looking so pleased with himself. It filled the older with joy to hear that the usually timid and introverted maknae had opened up to another person, especially one who shared his passion for dancing.

“Hey, I’m proud of you,” Kibum sincerely told Taemin as his fingers prodded at the younger boy’s hand. “You’re doing really well, Taemin-ah, I’m sure your performances are going to be great. The others and I will definitely watch you!”

“Jonghyun-hyung said he’ll come to all three shows,” Taemin said while rolling his eyes fondly at the thought of his hyung’s antics. “He’s such an idiot sometimes.”

“A loveable idiot.”

Finally, Kibum had managed to link their hands together, his slender fingers intertwined with Taemin’s slightly shorter and rougher ones. They made their way home like that, holding each other’s hands tightly, and talking about various things.

When they got home, they were excitedly greeted by the other three boys and while Minho obsessed over the food Kibum had brought and Jinki almost burst with happiness when he heard what Taemin had accomplished, Kibum fretted over the dark bags under Jonghyun’s eyes and the tired, defeated look on his face. In the end the diva, who was such a loving and motherly person nonetheless, successfully put the second-oldest to sleep before dinner and glared at everyone who dared to make any noise near their bed.

As Taemin completed his last bits of homework, glancing up at Kibum’s and Jonghyun’s curled up figures occasionally, he thought about Jongin and their conversation.

Even then, he already knew that this was only the start of a deep and long friendship with the boy – with Jongin, _Nini_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oof, i'm sry for taking so long to update. it's mostly because this fic is a vent fic and i write it to overcome writer's block and stuff. atm i'm busy af tho and also rlly inspired by another story of mine - i started posting the first part which is called 'Let's talk about sex, baby'.
> 
> for those of you who are interested, it's romance and the ships are jongkey / taemkey. i don't wanna spoil too much, but i gotta say that the story means a whole lot to me and i rlly love how it turned out.
> 
> anyway, i hope you enjoyed this chapter after years of not updating. have a nice week!


	5. Taemin bonds, Minho struggles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Of course, Taemin does great at his dance performance - everyone expected him to, anyway. However, that doesn't cheer up Minho, who is getting snappier as time passes and Christmas comes around.

“There are a shit ton of people out there, holy crap!”

So far, Taemin had thought of his new friend Jongin as by far the purest person he knew, but the past ten minutes which they had spent here together had him seriously questioning that assumption. Being faced with a whole crowd of spectators that had come to view their performance seemed to completely expose the bad side Jongin no doubt had, making him swear out loud as he peeked through the curtain.

“You told me twice already,” Taemin dryly stated as he watched two of the other dancers fiddle with their costumes, the boy’s back turned towards the stage behind which the spectators were sat.

Even though he couldn’t deny Jongin’s constant reminders that he would be dancing in front of a crowd in a few minutes didn’t have a positive effect on his nerves, Taemin had mostly succeeded in keeping calm by avoiding the curtain at any cost and pushing the intrusive thoughts to the back of his mind.

Jongin, on the other hand, seemed to believe confrontation was the best way to deal with the nerve-wracking situation and thus, Taemin nonetheless had to suffer with him.

It was the first time performing to such a huge crowd for the two boys and even though Seunghyun had made a whole speech earlier telling his crew that they were going to do just fine, their anxieties were undeniably still present five minutes before the performance was set to start.

Still not daring to take a peek behind the curtain, Taemin shifted his weight from one foot to the other, his fingers busy with the rings he had gotten to wear. Had it not been for the tiny metal objects, he would have ruined his makeup a long time ago due to his inability to keep his hands still when nervous.

Jongin seemed to have anxious habits, too, which included running his hands through his hair every few seconds. Half of Taemin feared the strands were going to get oily, but he knew there was little point in trying to hinder his friend from doing it.

“My hyungs are here,” he informed the other instead. “I mean Jinki- Onew-hyung, Minho-hyung, Key-hyung… Jonghyun-hyung actually bought tickets for all three performances. He likes to call himself my fanclub president.”

Jongin let out a short laugh that came out as a snort, his body stiff with apprehension.

“Jonghyun,” he murmured. “Is that the short one? He seems nice.”

“He is,” Taemin confirmed. “He’s really gentle and such, even if he can definitely be snarky as well. He just doesn’t use that gift often. Still, he’s full of sarcasm, but he also knows whenever something’s wrong. I don’t know how he does it, though, sometimes I wonder if he’s actually psychic.”

“I’ve never spoken to him,” Jongin confessed as he looked at the tips of his black shoes, a faint blush rising up on his cheeks. “But I can imagine he’s really nice to talk to.”

“Don’t worry, my hyungs don’t mind that,” Taemin quickly told him and gave him a reassuring smile. “I can literally be the shyest person ever, if Seunghyun-hyung hadn’t practically forced us to talk, I’d be stuck on my own right now. Jinki-hyung – that’s Onew – is really shy, too. Don’t ask me why he’s the cashier.”

Jongin shrugged as he finally stepped away from the curtain, choosing a new position so that he was facing Taemin directly.

“I can imagine a lot of girls would find him cute. His smile is really nice and warm, it makes him approachable… Unlike your other hyung, Key it is I think? He’s – well – intimidating.”

“Oh, that!” Taemin laughed out loud, a fond glint appearing in his eyes at the mention of the older boy. “He’s pretty fierce, but – you won’t believe this – he’s the most motherly person I know. He takes care of all of us, cooking as dinner…his cooking is great! And even if he may seem arrogant or cynical sometimes, hyung’s a really sweet person…”

He trailed off, lost in his own thoughts for a moment, before focusing on the last person left.

“Lastly there’s Minho-hyung. We’re really close, I think I trust him more than anyone else probably. Like Key-hyung, he’s really sassy and also competitive on an unhealthy level. However, he’s really loyal. He’d never let anything happen to us.”

“They sound nice,” Jongin quietly admitted, a hint of hope hidden in his voice, “I wish-“

“Two minutes, guys!” Seunghyun’s voice interrupted the boy, booming through the earpieces the dancers had all been given. “Please take your positions now!”

“I guess we should go, Jongin-ah!” Taemin told his friend over the sound of his rapid heartbeat that threatened to block out all the noises around him.

He had broken out in a cold sweat by now, his palms sticking to the silky fabric of his pants which were by far the most beautiful thing he had ever worn in his life. In his chest, anxiety and anticipation were competing with each other in a fierce battle and it was too early to say which would be more prominent in the dreaded, final moment before he stepped onto the stage.

With sweat covering his forehead and frightened eyes, Taemin returned to his assigned spot, a part of him wanting the show to be over as soon as possible while his other half impatiently looked forward to finally performing the dance which he had spent so long perfecting.

Meanwhile, the crowd behind the curtains was starting to become aroused with excitement at the upcoming performance, specifically four men in the back of the room who could hardly contain themselves despite getting some of the worst spots available. Only two of them were actually seated on chairs with the smallest one enthroned on a younger boy’s lap, the fourth and last one standing behind them while squinting at the stage.

“Your eyes are terrible, Jinki-hyung,” Kibum dryly commented from his chair, “you should really get glasses.”

As if to prove a point, the younger boy demonstratively pushed the round glasses that were sitting on top of his nose, helping him see the stage which was still empty.

“No, no, it’s okay,” a flustered Jinki responded, desperately trying to hide the fact that he was having a hard time seeing clearly. “I’ll be just fine.”

“If you say so.”

Kibum couldn’t be bothered to hide the fact that he deemed himself one hundred percent right in this case, yet the next second his attention was focused on the stage when the lights were turned off and music filled the room, marking the start of the show.

Suddenly everyone’s eyes were trained on the stage where, after minutes of anticipation, the dancers appeared, few at first yet the number increased quickly. As if he had forgotten to close it before, Minho’s mouth was hanging slightly open as he watched the performing dancers whose movements, despite the stage being so far away, looked enthralling.

Nearly everyone in the room was bewitched by the sight of over twenty people moving completely in synch and even Kibum, whose perfectionism rose to unhealthy levels on a daily basis, had to admit the dance instructor had done a great job. Most of the performers he worked with were rookies and had hardly been dancing for two years, with Taemin being an exception.

Kibum could not remember a time when the boy hadn’t danced and neither could Jonghyun, who was still sitting on Minho’s lap, leaning back against the taller boy’s broad frame comfortably as he watched the performance in a trance-like state.

He had not gotten a good night’s sleep before the day of the show and that could have been the reason the brightly illuminated bodies of the dancers blurred together before Jonghyun’s eyes, creating wildly colorful yet mesmerizing patterns.

The short man could not help his own astonishment as he viewed the show, stunned by the beauty created by countless bodies moving to the beat of an unknown English song that was blasting through the speakers.

After they had started with a group performance, many of the more advanced dancers had the opportunity to show off their skills in short solo dances, presenting the choreographies they had put together with the help of their seniors.

Taemin hadn’t dared to ask for his own dance yet and all of his hyungs knew, but instead Jongin had a small solo part that differed a lot from the choreography the group had performed before, the boy’s steps becoming lighter and lighter. Under the purple and blue lights his movements were fluid and for a moment, it even seemed like his body was made entirely, without joints and bones to hinder it from flowing.

The individual performances were so breathtaking that none of the spectators noticed how much time had already passed, until the last stage had started. Taking a brief glance at the wristwatch of the man standing next to him, Jinki realized they had been here for over an hour already in amazement.

The oldest boy had never been graceful, let alone a dancer, his clumsy nature severely limiting his ability. However, he found that he did not mind watching Taemin’s performance – he loved it, even, and despite having worried about spending so much money on the tickets for the show, he now realized that it had been worth it.

Not to forget, Jinki and the other three boys would never miss an opportunity to make Taemin happy and they knew they could do just that by cheering him on.

After the premiere was over, a few people held short speeches and then, Jonghyun, Jinki and the other two were finally able to meet Taemin. The atmosphere backstage was great with everyone’s spirits high as skyscrapers, and when Minho finally spotted Taemin in the mass of dancers with glittering jackets, he spontaneously ran to pick up the boy and spin him around.

“Yah, yah, mind your surroundings!” Kibum exclaimed worriedly, fearing that Taemin’s legs might hit the persons around him, but the two youngest boys were so ecstatic they didn’t even hear their nagging friend.

“Really, you’re such a great dancer, Taem!” Minho repeated over and over, unable to stop raving about what he had seen. “You were the absolute best.”

“You were great, Minnie,” Kibum agreed as he ruffled Taemin’s hair after the younger had finally been set down again, earning a glare from the maknae. “I always enjoy seeing you dance because you hit the beat very well and you have a great feeling for music. You looked marvelous up there!”

“Oh, I see you’ve been reading the dictionary lately,” Minho teased the older boy’s choice of words when Jonghyun chimed in, “I definitely won’t regret going to all three shows, Taemin-ah, your crew is fantastic!”

A dark blush crept up Taemin’s neck and he turned shy at all the praises he was receiving, feeling a bit embarrassed by his hyungs’ excitement. However, his timidity soon vanished when Kibum mentioned going home to eat Korean beef, which was something the youngest hadn’t eaten in years.

“We already prepared everything, we just have to grill the meat,” Minho explained in more detail.

The four boys had spent a long time trying to decide how to treat Taemin after his performance, and even if they could not exactly afford it, they had settled with buying beef for the maknae. The next few days would certainly be a challenge, with their savings used up almost completely, but Jinki was positive that they would be okay in the future, since the shop had gradually been gaining new customers, especially with the new Christmas-themed drinks and cookies they had recently put out.

The last thing they would think about doing was telling their youngest about their financial worries, though, especially while he was under the constant stress of performing. Therefore, the boys would enjoy a nice dinner that evening and work hard to earn enough money the next week.

“Before we go, I gotta say bye to Jongin,” Taemin told them when he had suffered through the acts of affection of all four hyungs, sheepishly trying to untangle his hair which Minho’s fingers had thoroughly missed up.

“Oh yes, please tell him he was great!” Jinki said with a shy yet beaming smile.

He felt it was not the right time to properly introduce themselves to their young regular now, even though that was definitely on top of the boys’ bucket list, but the oldest still didn’t want to let Jongin’s effort and talent for dance go unnoticed.

“I’ll be sure to tell him!” Taemin assured the older and dashed off, pushing through the mass of people, including both dancers and congratulators, backstage.

When he had finally found his new friend, who was seemingly surrounded by his family, he felt too awkward to properly talk to him, so he simply said his goodbye quickly.

“Jinki-hyung told me he liked your dance a lot. He thought you were amazing.”

“Tell hyungnim thanks, please,” Jongin bashfully replied, eyes trained on the ground – he seemed just as new to praise as Taemin was.

“I will!” Taemin promised.

When he got back to where his hyungs had been waiting, he found Kibum and Jinki caught in a conversation with Seunghyun while Minho and Jonghyun had taken it upon themselves to entertain each other in their own strange way, giggling quietly.

“We should go quickly!” Kibum loudly said when he spotted Taemin, clapping his hands a single time to signal the others they were leaving. “Even though it’s almost Christmas and the holidays start soon, Taeminnie and I still gotta go to school tomorrow! It was very nice to talk to you, Seunghyun-ssi! See you next time!”

“Hopefully, yes!” Taemin’s senior grinned as he waved with the bouquet of flowers  he was carrying. “Let’s talk again soon, Kibum-ssi, Jinki-ssi. You did very well tonight, Taemin-ah, I’m proud of you. Next time there’s no getting out of performing a solo for you, got it?”

He affectionately ruffled Taemin’s mussed up and sweaty hair one last time and the younger rolled his eyes at his senior’s words, as he had already heard them once today.

The journey home, which took almost forty minutes since they had to rely on public transportation, was filled with mindless chatter and carefree laughter, with everyone joining in on the fun. Even Jonghyun, who was ready to drop dead, managed to crack a few smiles, his hand safely tugged into the pocket of Jinki’s coat as their fingers stayed intertwined.

Although Kibum was right about school the next day, the boys celebrated until the early morning hours and the fun they had definitely made up for the lack of sleep, especially as Taemin and, unsurprisingly, Minho decided to stay home from school so Kibum was the only one still going.

The next two days were extraordinarily busy and exhausting even for the boys, who were all used to hard work. With Taemin’s shows and the preparations that had to be made for Christmas as well as the influx of customers their shop was receiving at the moment, they were working all day and night.

The oddest thing those days was the fact that Minho became increasingly more secretive with each new morning. At first, Jonghyun and Taemin had assumed he was getting them something special for Christmas.

For two years now, it had been a tradition that only Minho bought presents for everyone while Kibum cooked dinner and the other three cleaned and decorated the place where they planned to celebrate. Of course, the rest of the boys wanted to buy gifts as well, but frankly, they did not have the money for that.

Kibum’s and Jonghyun’s caretakers struggled with paying their housing bills anyway, Jinki was the only one left of his family after his uncle’s death and poor little Taemin had been living in different orphanages and temporary children’s homes for almost ten years, with no one to get attached to and no one who was willing to give him a little pocket money from time to time.

Therefore, Minho was the only one of them who was actually able to buy presents and he did so surprisingly willingly, his lack of complaining a stark contrast to his usual behavior.

So, it was only reasonable for the boys to believe Minho was preparing something for Christmas. However, when the boy became more and more irritated, even snapping at an innocent Jinki right after the older had awoken from his nap, they started to become suspicious.

It was considered one of the worst crimes to mistreat Jinki and usually, Kibum wasn’t the only one giving out punishments when someone seriously tormented their oldest, who was too sweet for his own good sometimes. The fact that Minho had lost his temper with Jinki of all people said a lot about his mental state.

Kibum was determined to talk to Minho about his behavior before Christmas Eve, or before the start of the holidays even, just to make sure they could spend their few free days in harmony and peace. When Jonghyun and Taemin returned home in the evening of the maknae’s third performance, though, the diva forgot about his plans for a while, busy preparing food for the newly arrived boys and moving his hips along to the Christmas songs Jonghyun was happily singing.

The good mood lasted exactly until the moment Jinki spoke up, making everyone turn quiet.

“Where is Minho? Didn’t he come home with you, Jjong?”

“With us? Why would he come home with us? I was the only one who bought tickets for tonight, so it was only me and Taeminnie,” the short man replied with a frown.

Kibum was standing frozen next to the stove while Taemin had stopped picking at the jelly he had gotten from somewhere, his eyes darting between his hyungs rapidly as if he was unsure where to look.

“I thought he was with you, honestly,” Jinki told Jonghyun. “Since I haven’t seen him all afternoon and all, I assumed he had joined you last minute. Is that wrong?”

“It is,” Taemin quietly confirmed.

Meanwhile, a horrible realization had started to dawn on Kibum, making his blood run cold.

“You mean,” he started, gripping the glass he was holding tighter, “it’s almost 11 and Minho hasn’t returned yet.”

When Jinki nodded, the glass in Kibum’s hand broke, pieces of it scattering all over the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> someone asked me to update this and i gotta say...you're right, you're absolutely right. i should have posted this chapter a long time ago. i even procrastinated proofreading this one for abt 4 weeks or so, and i feel bad about it.
> 
> also, a quick note abt seungri, who does appear as taemin's dance coach. i'll be honest and say i used to bias him, but obviously, not anymore. i wrote this long before the burning sun scandal happened, when i didn't know of the disgusting things he did. i honestly don't remember if he's in any of the upcoming chapters, but i'll kick him out of this fic as soon as possible. i'll also delete his tag.
> 
> now, onto happier news. i've alr finished the story i told you abt last time 'let's talk about sex, baby'. currently, i'm writing the sequel bc this story has been my favorite one to write yet - so if anyone is interested...? also, i'm getting into stray kids atm bc i have time now. i haven't stanned a new group in years and dropped most of my old ones (except for shinee ofc, mx, block b, sf9 and a bit of nct), so it's kinda exciting for me rn. if anyone wants to rant abt that...i'm here.
> 
> lastly: i love jonghyun. he's a smol & precious noodle with the best voice in the world and everyone should appreciate him. bye.

**Author's Note:**

> and thus it has ended. the first part at least.
> 
> editing this chapter has been a wild ride for me, since i'm not contented with how it turned out. sometimes i feel like my writing sounds awkward, but my two amazing beta readers still encouraged me to upload it. over the course of the story, i get more and more comfortable with my writing and i hope that will show in future chapters!
> 
> lastly, i hope it's not too obvious i'm super key-biased. i rlly tried to tone it down, but my friend still said it was a tad bit obvious. oops.
> 
> anyways, see you next chapter! (where a kind of important character will appear for the first time)
> 
> visit my insta [HERE](https://www.instagram.com/_artistic_whale_/?hl=de)!


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